Negative Entropy and Information in Quantum Mechanics

1995/12/31 by Nicolas J. Cerf, N. J. Cerf, Christoph Adami +1 · 7 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #atom-ph #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.79.5194

published as Phys.Rev.Lett. 79 (1997) 5194 · 4 pages RevTeX, 2 figures. Expanded discussion of quantum teleportation and superdense coding, and minor corrections. To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett

arxiv created 1997/10/30 · openalex publication_date 1997/12/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

A framework for a quantum mechanical information theory is introduced that is based entirely on density operators, and gives rise to a unified description of classical correlation and quantum entanglement. Unlike in classical (Shannon) information theory, quantum (von Neumann) conditional entropies can be negative when considering quantum entangled systems, a fact related to quantum nonseparability. The possibility that negative (virtual) information can be carried by entangled particles suggests a consistent interpretation of quantum informational processes.

Citations

• Capacity of the noisy quantum channel
• Separability Criterion for Density Matrices

Cited by

• Quantum State Merging and Negative Information
• The generalized Boltzmann distribution is the only distribution in which the Gibbs-Shannon entropy equals the thermodynamic entropy
• Limitations to sharing entanglement
• Unifying several separability conditions using the covariance matrix criterion
• Inclusion relations among separability criteria
• Entropic uncertainty relations and entanglement
• Entropic Entanglement Criteria for Continuous Variables
• Evidence of Uncollapsed Quantum Amplitudes After Consecutive Measurements