Proper and improper mixed states serve as different prior beliefs for quantum state retrodiction

Abstract:A mixed quantum state can be taken as capturing an unspecified form of ignorance; or as describing the lack of knowledge about the true pure state of the system ("proper mixture"); or as arising from entanglement with another system that has been disregarded ("improper mixture"). These different views yield identical density matrices and therefore identical predictions for future measurements. But when used as prior beliefs for inferring the past state from later observations ("retrodiction"), they lead to different updated beliefs. This is a purely quantum feature of Bayesian agency. Based on this observation, we establish a framework for retrodicting on any quantum belief and we prove a necessary and sufficient condition for the equivalence of beliefs. We also illustrate how these differences have operational consequences in quantum state recovery.

arXiv:2502.10030 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2502.10030v2 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.10030 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 060203 (2026)

https://doi.org/10.1103/xx43-p1py Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources

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