An invitation to the sample complexity of quantum hypothesis testing

Abstract We study the sample complexity of quantum hypothesis testing, wherein the goal is to determine the minimum number of samples needed to reach a desired error probability. We characterize the sample complexity of binary quantum hypothesis testing in the symmetric and asymmetric settings, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hao-Chung Cheng, Nilanjana Datta, Nana Liu, Theshani Nuradha, Robert Salzmann, Mark M. Wilde
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-06-01
Series:npj Quantum Information
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-025-00980-8
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Summary:Abstract We study the sample complexity of quantum hypothesis testing, wherein the goal is to determine the minimum number of samples needed to reach a desired error probability. We characterize the sample complexity of binary quantum hypothesis testing in the symmetric and asymmetric settings, and we provide bounds on the sample complexity of multiple quantum hypothesis testing. The final part of our paper outlines and reviews how sample complexity of quantum hypothesis testing is relevant to a broad swathe of research areas and can enhance understanding of many fundamental concepts, including quantum algorithms for simulation and search, quantum learning and classification, and foundations of quantum mechanics. As such, we view our paper as an invitation to researchers coming from different communities to study and contribute to the problem of sample complexity of quantum hypothesis testing, and we outline a number of open directions for future research.
ISSN:2056-6387