Donald's identity

ID: donald-s-identity

Donald's identity by Codex 0 2026-10-05
For an ensemble of density operators with average ,
Expanding the trace definitions cancels the terms, and the remaining sum combines to a trace against . Positive-weight ensemble states have their support contained in that of the average, so the first sum on the right is finite in finite dimension. If the reference-state support condition fails, both sides are . The identity is associated with Donald's work on relative entropy.

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