Supermartingales in Quantum Resources Theories: Where do quantum resources go when you're watching?
Quantum Physics
2026-07-28 v1 Mathematical Physics
Abstract
We establish a connection between quantum resource theory and probability theory, under repeated application of free operations. We show that strong monotonicity of a resource measure implies that the resource is a supermartingale. We then use the optional stopping and martingale convergence theorems to derive bounds on the efficiency of post-selection, and other free adaptive strategies. We also describe the asymptotic dynamics of the conditional state, where resource fluctuations are necessarily absent, showing one of two distinct phenomena occurs: resource vanishing or resource freezing.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2607.26225,
title = {Supermartingales in Quantum Resources Theories: Where do quantum resources go when you're watching?},
author = {Katarzyna Macieszczak and Robert L. Jack},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.26225},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
5 pages, 3 figures (+ 2 pages, 1 figure of Appendix + 8 pages of Supp. Mat.)