Different quantum f-divergences and the reversibility of quantum operations

Abstract

The concept of classical [Formula: see text]-divergences gives a unified framework to construct and study measures of dissimilarity of probability distributions; special cases include the relative entropy and the Rényi divergences. Various quantum versions of this concept, and more narrowly, the concept of Rényi divergences, have been introduced in the literature with applications in quantum information theory; most notably Petz’ quasi-entropies (standard [Formula: see text]-divergences), Matsumoto’s maximal [Formula: see text]-divergences, measured [Formula: see text]-divergences, and sandwiched and [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text]-Rényi divergences. In this paper, we give a systematic overview of the various concepts of quantum [Formula: see text]-divergences, with a main focus on their monotonicity under quantum operations, and the implications of the preservation of a quantum [Formula: see text]-divergence by a quantum operation. In particular, we compare the standard and the maximal [Formula: see text]-divergences regarding their ability to detect the reversibility of quantum operations. We also show that these two quantum [Formula: see text]-divergences are strictly different for non-commuting operators unless [Formula: see text] is a polynomial, and obtain some analogous partial results for the relation between the measured and the standard [Formula: see text]-divergences. We also study the monotonicity of the [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text]-Rényi divergences under the special class of bistochastic maps that leave one of the arguments of the Rényi divergence invariant, and determine domains of the parameters [Formula: see text] where monotonicity holds, and where the preservation of the [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text]-Rényi divergence implies the reversibility of the quantum operation.