First prove monotonicity for a partial trace. Let and define the Heisenberg-Weyl twirling channel
The supplied identity on individual operators extends to bipartite operators by expanding them in a tensor-product basis. The joint convexity of quantum relative entropy and its unitary invariance imply
The additivity of quantum relative entropy makes the left side , proving the partial-trace case.
For a general deterministic quantum operation, meaning a quantum channel, use a Stinespring dilation with . An isometric embedding preserves quantum relative entropy, because restricting the output to the common image of preserves the eigenvalues and trace formula. Applying the partial-trace result gives
The other properties used are unitary invariance and invariance under adjoining an identical ancillary state; both follow directly from the relative-entropy trace formula. This is the Lindblad-Uhlmann monotonicity theorem. The proof applies to deterministic channels; normalized postselection is not such a linear channel.
Tensor-product operator 2026-10-05
A tensor-product operator factors as on a tensor product of two spaces. If both factors are positive semidefinite operators, their tensor-product operator is positive: a tensor-product basis of eigenvectors has eigenvalues . This positivity underlies the necessary direction of the positive partial transpose criterion.