Quantum Aitchison geometry

Abstract

Multiplying a likelihood function with a positive number makes no difference in Bayesian statistical inference, therefore after normalization the likelihood function in many cases can be considered as probability distribution. This idea led Aitchison to define a vector space structure on the probability simplex in 1986. Pawlowsky-Glahn and Egozcue gave a statistically relevant scalar product on this space in 2001, endowing the probability simplex with a Hilbert space structure. In this paper, we present the noncommutative counterpart of this geometry. We introduce a real Hilbert space structure on the quantum mechanical finite dimensional state space. We show that the scalar product in quantum setting respects the tensor product structure and can be expressed in terms of modular operators and Hamilton operators. Using the quantum analogue of the log-ratio transformation, it turns out that all the newly introduced operations emerge naturally in the language of Gibbs states. We show an orthonormal basis in the state space and study the introduced geometry on the space of qubits in details.