Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/iii/paper-66/5/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 66 5 ii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put . The rank-one dephasing is . If , positivity givesso . The kernel of is exactly the span of these zero-probability basis vectors and is therefore contained in the kernel of . Taking orthogonal complements proves support inclusion under rank-one dephasing:Here the support of a positive operator is the orthogonal complement of its kernel.
On that support, is diagonal in the measurement basis, givingConsequently the relative-entropy identity for rank-one dephasing isKlein's inequality gives , since both density operators have trace one. For singular , first restrict to where is positive definite, replace by , and let . The support inclusion ensures that the limit is finite. ThusThis proves entropy increase under nonselective projective measurement using Klein's inequality. Equality holds exactly when , so the original density operator was already diagonal in the chosen basis.
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