English

Metric Properties: From $S$-Divergence to Quantum Jensen Divergence

Operator Algebras 2026-02-10 v1

Abstract

We extend the trace-logarithmic SS-divergence from matrices to tracial CC^*-algebras and finite von Neumann algebras, and show that its square root defines a metric on the invertible positive cone. We also prove an integral representation of the quantum Jensen--Shannon divergence in terms of shifted trace-log distances, implying metricity of its square root on the full positive cone in the same tracial framework. In the matrix case, we answer two questions of Virosztek \cite{Vir21} on Hilbertianity. Finally, we show that symmetric quantum Jensen divergences generated by non-affine operator convex functions yield metrics in the tracial setting via a Nevanlinna--Stieltjes type representation of the derivative, which generalizes a result of Carlen, Lieb and Seiringer.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.08164,
  title  = {Metric Properties: From $S$-Divergence to Quantum Jensen Divergence},
  author = {Teng Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.08164},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

22 pages. All comments are welcome!

R2 v1 2026-07-01T10:27:06.126Z