Ordinary-Petz recovery bound for conditional mutual information

Unsolved ID op_87c77263c8bab523 Last edited 4 September 2026
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Problem

Does the ordinary, unrotated Petz map universally recover a tripartite state with fidelity controlled by its conditional mutual information? For a finite-dimensional state \(\rho_{ABC}\), define

\begin{equation} I(A;B\mid C)_\rho :=S(AC)_\rho+S(BC)_\rho-S(C)_\rho-S(ABC)_\rho, \qquad S(\tau):=-\operatorname{Tr}(\tau\log_2\tau). \tag{1} \end{equation}

The ordinary Petz map associated with \(\rho_{AC}\) and the channel \(\operatorname{Tr}_A:AC\to C\) is

\begin{equation} \mathcal P^{\rho}_{C\to AC}(X_C) :=\rho_{AC}^{1/2}\!\left[ I_A\otimes\rho_C^{-1/2}X_C\rho_C^{-1/2} \right]\rho_{AC}^{1/2}, \tag{2} \end{equation}

where the inverse is taken on \(\operatorname{supp}\rho_C\). With squared fidelity \(F(\tau,\omega):=\lVert\sqrt\tau\sqrt\omega\rVert_1^2\), determine whether the quantity in Eq. (1) always satisfies

\begin{equation} I(A;B\mid C)_\rho \stackrel{?}{\geq} -\log_2 F\!\left( \rho_{ABC}, (\operatorname{id}_B\otimes\mathcal P^{\rho}_{C\to AC})(\rho_{BC}) \right), \tag{3} \end{equation}

with the recovered systems ordered canonically as \(ABC\).

Source

Berta, Seshadreesan, and Wilde state the Rényi-monotonicity conjecture whose \(\alpha=1/2\) and \(\alpha=1\) endpoints give Eq. (3); Wilde records this ordinary-Petz inequality explicitly in Section 12.7 [BSW15], [Wil17].

Progress

  • Sutter, Tomamichel, and Harrow proved a strengthened data-processing inequality using a pinched Petz map, equivalently a convex combination of rotated Petz maps. Their result yields a conditional-mutual-information recovery bound of the form

    \begin{equation} I(A;B\mid C)_\rho \geq-\log_2 F\!\left( \rho_{ABC}, (\operatorname{id}_B\otimes\mathcal R_{C\to AC})(\rho_{BC}) \right), \tag{4} \end{equation}

    for an explicitly averaged recovery map \(\mathcal R_{C\to AC}\). Equation (4) does not establish Eq. (3), because the averaging need not reduce to the unrotated map in Eq. (2) [STH16].

  • Junge, Renner, Sutter, Wilde, and Winter constructed a universal recovery map depending only on the reference state and the channel, and proved a fidelity remainder of the form in Eq. (4). Their universal map is an average of rotated Petz maps, so universality alone does not settle the ordinary-map requirement in Eq. (3) [JRS+18].

Comment

The unresolved requirement is the specific map in Eq. (2), without rotations, pinching, averaging, or an optimization over recovery channels. The general data-processing counterexample recorded in Problem  does not have the constrained partial-trace and compatible-marginal structure imposed here.

References

[BSW15]
M. Berta, K. P. Seshadreesan, and M. M. Wilde, “Rényi Generalizations of the Conditional Quantum Mutual Information,” Journal of Mathematical Physics 56, 022205 (2015).DOIarXiv
[Wil17]
M. M. Wilde, Quantum Information Theory, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press (2017), Sec. 12.7.DOIarXiv
[STH16]
D. Sutter, M. Tomamichel, and A. W. Harrow, “Strengthened Monotonicity of Relative Entropy via Pinched Petz Recovery Map,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 62, 2907–2913 (2016).DOIarXiv
[JRS+18]
M. Junge, R. Renner, D. Sutter, M. M. Wilde, and A. Winter, “Universal Recovery Maps and Approximate Sufficiency of Quantum Relative Entropy,” Annales Henri Poincaré 19, 2955–2978 (2018).DOIarXiv

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“Ordinary-Petz recovery bound for conditional mutual information,” Quantum Information and Quantum Computation Open Problem Zoo (QIQCOP Zoo), ID op_87c77263c8bab523, accessed 2026-09-08.

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@incollection{qiqcop_op_87c77263c8bab523,
  title = {Ordinary-Petz recovery bound for conditional mutual information},
  booktitle = {Quantum Information and Quantum Computation Open Problem Zoo (QIQCOP Zoo)},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://qiqc-op.com/problem/op_87c77263c8bab523/}},
  note = {Stable ID op_87c77263c8bab523; status: Unsolved; accessed 2026-09-08}
}

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“Ordinary-Petz recovery bound for conditional mutual information,” Quantum Information and Quantum Computation Open Problem Zoo (QIQCOP Zoo), https://qiqc-op.com/problem/op_87c77263c8bab523/, ID op_87c77263c8bab523, accessed 2026-09-08.

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op_87c77263c8bab523
01M1Q787QRJ5ASJACQYA9R7N35