Hierarchy of continuous-variable quantum resource theories

Abstract

Connections between the resource theories of coherence and purity (or non-uniformity) are well known for discrete-variable, finite-dimensional, quantum systems. We establish analogous results for continuous-variable (CV) systems, in particular Gaussian systems. To this end, we define the concept of maximal coherence at fixed energy, which is achievable with energy-preserving unitaries. We show that the maximal Gaussian coherence (where states and operations are required to be Gaussian) can be quantified analytically by the relative entropy. We then propose a resource theory of non-uniformity, by considering the purity of a quantum state at fixed energy as resource, and by defining non-uniformity monotones. In the Gaussian case, we prove the equality of Gaussian non-uniformity and maximal Gaussian coherence. Finally, we show a hierarchy for non-uniformity, coherence, discord and entanglement in CV systems.

Keywords

• continuous-variable systems
• resource theories
• quantum coherence
• purity