Holevo's bound from a general quantum fluctuation theorem

Abstract

We give a derivation of Holevo's bound using an important result from nonequilibrium statistical physics, the fluctuation theorem. To do so we develop a general formalism of quantum fluctuation theorems for two-time measurements, which explicitly accounts for the back action of quantum measurements as well as possibly nonunitary time evolution. For a specific choice of observables this fluctuation theorem yields a measurement-dependent correction to the Holevo bound, leading to a tighter inequality. We conclude by analyzing equality conditions for the improved bound. © 2012 American Physical Society.