Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / iii / Paper 323 / 1 / ii / Solution

For a fixed input, the Holevo–Helstrom theorem gives the optimal error for the two output states. Optimizing the input and quantum ancilla therefore givesThe stabilization in the diamond norm is exactly the optimization over ancillary systems. Without an ancilla the same argument instead giveswhere $\Vert \cdot {\Vert }_1$ is the induced trace norm.