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# What is Possible Without Disturbing Partially Known Quantum States?

## I Introduction

Quantum mechanics pose fundamental restrictions when one reads out information from a quantum system. The most basic rule is well known —if one reads out information from a quantum system in an unknown initial state, the quantum state of the system will change. Recent development of quantum information theory proposes various schemes of handling information through quantum systems, and understanding of more detailed rules seems to become an important issue. One particular direction of such investigation is the cases when the initial state is partially known. In such situations, some operations can be done without introducing any disturbance on the original quantum system. One of the fundamental questions here is the following: What kind of information can be extracted, and what cannot be, without changing the state? This problem is important in quantum cryptography, since the initial state is chosen by the sender among a few definite states. The problem is also directly related to the physical feasibility of cloning (making a copy of the original) and imprinting (catching a trail without affecting the original) of partially known quantum states. So far, the conditions for the initial states allowing such tasks were derived, such as broadcasting of mixed states and cloning of pure entangled states. The proofs were based on the complicated series of inequalities related to the fidelity, and it is not always easy to infer the conditions even for slightly different tasks.

In this paper, we present a principle that gives a definite distinction between what one can do and what one cannot do without changing the state of a system. Given a set of possible initial states, we propose a particular decomposition \[Eq. (95)\] of the system, which classifies the degrees of freedom of the system into three parts, according as how they hold the information on which one of the states is chosen as the initial state. The principle is then stated as the restriction to the access to each part. We provide a proof that clarifies the physical origin of the principle—it is obtained by simply applying two fundamental theorems alternately, which respectively reflect the basic property of classical signals (Theorem 1) and that of quantum signals (Theorem 2). This principle can be applied to various problems of cloning and imprinting of quantum states, and reveals conditions for feasibility of various tasks such as no-imprinting condition of mixed states. It also gives a good insight into the basic concepts of quantum cryptography.

This paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II, we formulate the problem considered in this paper. In Sec. III, we derive two theorems which reflect the basic property of classical signals and that of quantum signals. The latter one suggests a structure of Hilbert space in which tensor products and direct sums are involved, and we discuss notations to treat such structures in Sec. IV. In Sec. V, we repeatedly use the two basic theorems and derive the main result, the property of the operations preserving a set of states. Sec. VI discusses properties of the decomposition used in stating the main theorem, such as its uniqueness and relation to well-known mathematical concepts. In Sec. VII, the main theorem is restated in a scenario of faithful transfer, which makes it convenient to apply the theorem to communication problems. In Sec. VIII, we give applications of the theorem to various problems of cloning, imprinting, quantum cryptography, quantum data compression, and teleportation.

## II Formulation of the problem

The main problem considered in this paper is described as follows. Consider a quantum system A, which is described by a Hilbert space $`_\mathrm{A}^{}`$. Initially system A is secretly prepared in a state described by a normalized density operator $`\rho _s`$, one in the known set of states $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$. Here $`S`$ is the set of possible values of index $`s`$. For example, if the initial state is chosen from $`n`$ states, $`S`$ is assumed be $`\{1,2,\mathrm{},n\}`$. $`S`$ can also be a infinite set. We assume that $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$ is supported by a subspace with a finite dimension. This assumption is more precisely stated as follows. Let us write the support of $`\rho _s`$ as $`\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)`$, and define

$$_\mathrm{A}\underset{sS}{}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s).$$
(1)
Then, the said assumption is that the dimension of $`_\mathrm{A}`$ be finite.

Next, we prepare an ancilla (an auxiliary system) E, described by a Hilbert space $`_\mathrm{E}`$, in a standard quantum state $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}=|u_\mathrm{E}u|`$, and apply a unitary operation $`U`$ on $`_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. After this operation, the marginal density operator of $`_\mathrm{A}^{}`$ becomes

$$𝒯_U(\rho _s)\text{Tr}_\mathrm{E}[U(\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U^{}].$$
(2)
What we seek is the requirement for $`U`$ to preserve the marginal density operator of A, namely, $`𝒯_U(\rho _s)=\rho _s`$ for all $`sS`$. Note that what we concern here is not the whole property of $`U:_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$, but that of the isometry given as its restriction, $`U:_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. Let $`𝒰_{\mathrm{all}}`$ be the set of all isometries from $`_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. The problem here is thus to identify the subset

$$𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}\{U𝒰_{\mathrm{all}}|𝒯_U(\rho _s)=\rho _s,{}_{}{}^{}sS\}.$$
(3)
It is convenient to construct a density operator $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}`$ from $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$, satisfying the following conditions:

$$\mathrm{Tr}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}})=1,$$
(4)
$$𝒯_U(\rho _{\mathrm{all}})=\rho _{\mathrm{all}}{}_{}{}^{}U𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}},$$
(5)
and

$$\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}})=_\mathrm{A}.$$
(6)
When a probability distribution $`p(s)(sS)`$ over $`S`$ satisfying $`p(s)>0`$ for all $`sS`$ is assigned to the set $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$, $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}`$ can be constructed as an averaged state, namely, by a sum $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}=_{sS}p(s)\rho _s`$, or by an integral $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}=𝑑sp(s)\rho _s`$. Alternatively, we can always pick up $`n(\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{A})`$ states $`\{\rho _1,\rho _2,\mathrm{},\rho _n\}`$ from the set $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$ such that $`\mathrm{Supp}(_{i=1}^n\rho _i)=_\mathrm{A}`$. Then, setting $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}=_{i=1}^n\rho _i/n`$ satisfies Eqs. (4)-(6).

## III basic property of classical and quantum signals

### A Useful lemmas

In this section, we introduce two lemmas, which will be frequently used in this paper.

###### Lemma 1

Let $`O`$ be an Hermitian operator acting on $``$, and $`U`$ be a unitary operator on $`_\mathrm{E}`$ (or an isometry from $`|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{E}`$) satisfying $`𝒯_U(O)=O`$. Then,

$$[P_+\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U](P_+\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎},$$
(7)
where $`P_+`$ is the projection onto the space spanned by the eigenvectors of $`O`$ with positive eigenvalues.

This lemma implies that an operation preserving a Hermitian operator $`O`$ does not transfer the eigenvectors of $`O`$ with positive eigenvalues to the space for nonpositive eigenvalues. A proof is given as follows. Let us define $`\overline{P}_+\mathrm{𝟏}P_+`$. The operator $`O`$ can be decomposed as $`O=O_+O_{}`$ by a positive definite operator $`O_+P_+O`$ and a positive semidefinite operator $`O_{}\overline{P}_+O`$. Since $`𝒯_U`$ is linear,

$`\mathrm{Tr}[P_+𝒯_U(O)]=\mathrm{Tr}[P_+𝒯_U(O_+)]\mathrm{Tr}[P_+𝒯_U(O_{})]`$ (8)
$`=\mathrm{Tr}[𝒯_U(O_+)]\mathrm{Tr}[\overline{P}_+𝒯_U(O_+)]\mathrm{Tr}[P_+𝒯_U(O_{})].`$ (9)
From $`𝒯_U(O)=O`$, we have

$$\mathrm{Tr}[P_+𝒯_U(O)]=\mathrm{Tr}[P_+O]=\mathrm{Tr}[O_+].$$
(10)
On the other hand, since $`𝒯_U`$ is a trace-preserving map, we have

$$\mathrm{Tr}[𝒯_U(O_+)]=\mathrm{Tr}[O_+].$$
(11)
Combining Eqs. (9)–(11), we obtain

$$\mathrm{Tr}[\overline{P}_+𝒯_U(O_+)]+\mathrm{Tr}[P_+𝒯_U(O_{})]=0.$$
(12)
Since $`𝒯_U`$ is a complete positive map, $`\mathrm{Tr}[\overline{P}_+𝒯_U(O_+)]0`$ and $`\mathrm{Tr}[P_+𝒯_U(O_{})]0`$. This means that both terms in the lhs (left-hand side) of Eq. (12) are nonnegative, and we obtain $`\mathrm{Tr}[\overline{P}_+𝒯_U(O_+)]=0`$. This relation is also written as $`\text{Tr}[QQ^{}]=0`$ with $`Q=(\overline{P}_+\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U(\sqrt{O_+}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})`$. This means $`Q=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, or equivalently,

$$(\overline{P}_+\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U(P_+\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(13)
Substituting $`\overline{P}_+=\mathrm{𝟏}P_+`$ completes the proof of Lemma 1.

###### Lemma 2

Let $`\rho `$ be a positive semidefinite operator acting on $``$. Suppose that its support $`\mathrm{Supp}(\rho )`$ is written as a direct sum of two subspaces as $`\mathrm{Supp}(\rho )=_1_2`$, and let $`P_i`$ be the projection onto $`_i(i=1,2)`$. Let $`U`$ be a unitary operator on $`_\mathrm{E}`$ (or an isometry from $`|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{E}`$) satisfying $`𝒯_U(\rho )=\rho `$ and $`[P_1\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U](P_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Then

$$[P_2\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U](P_2\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(14)
This lemma implies that if $`U`$ does not transfer the vectors in subspace $`_1`$ to subspace $`_2`$, $`U`$ does not include the transfer in the opposite way ($`_2`$ to $`_1`$). Lemma 2 is proved as follows. The assumption $`[P_1\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U](P_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ implies that $`(P_2\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U(P_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Using this, we have

$`\mathrm{Tr}[P_2𝒯_U(\rho )]`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{Tr}[P_2𝒯_U((P_1+P_2)\rho (P_1+P_2))]`$ (15)
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{Tr}[P_2𝒯_U(P_2\rho P_2)].`$ (16)
From $`𝒯_U(\rho )=\rho `$, we have

$$\mathrm{Tr}[P_2𝒯_U(\rho )]=\mathrm{Tr}[P_2\rho ].$$
(17)
Since $`𝒯_U`$ is a trace-preserving map,

$$\text{Tr}[𝒯_U(P_2\rho P_2)]=\mathrm{Tr}[P_2\rho ].$$
(18)
Combining Eqs. (16)–(18), we obtain $`\text{Tr}[𝒯_U(P_2\rho P_2)]=\mathrm{Tr}[P_2𝒯_U(P_2\rho P_2)]`$, or equivalently, $`\mathrm{Tr}[\overline{P}_2𝒯_U(P_2\rho P_2)]=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ with $`\overline{P}_2\mathrm{𝟏}P_2`$. This relation is also written as $`\text{Tr}[QQ^{}]=0`$ with $`Q=(\overline{P}_2\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U(\sqrt{P_2\rho P_2}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})`$. This means $`Q=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, or equivalently,

$$(\overline{P}_2\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U(P_2\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(19)
Substituting $`\overline{P}_2=\mathrm{𝟏}P_2`$ completes the proof of Lemma 2.

### B Property of classical signals

In this section, we derive a theorem which stems from a general property of classical signals. Before the derivation of the theorem, it is instructive to consider an example in the purely classical situation. A classical counterpart of the problem considered here is obtained by replacing the requirement of preserving density operators to that of preserving probability distributions. Consider a purely classical example, in which a signal $`X`$ is drawn from either of the two probability distributions $`p_1(x)`$ and $`p_2(x)`$, according to the value of $`s(=1,2)`$, and a signal $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ is then produced from the value of $`X`$ according to a rule that is independent of the value of $`s`$; namely, if $`X=x`$, $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ is set to $`\stackrel{~}{X}=y`$ with probability $`p(y|x)`$. The probability distribution for $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ is then given by $`\stackrel{~}{p}_s(x)=_x^{}p(x|x^{})p_s(x^{})`$. Let $`K_0=\{x|p_1(x)+p_2(x)>0\}`$ be the set of the possible values of $`X`$. Let us divide $`K_0`$ into two sets, $`K_a\{x|p_1(x)>p_2(x)\}`$ and $`K_b\{x|p_2(x)p_1(x),p_2(x)>0\}`$. A necessary condition for the transition matrix $`p(y|x)`$ in order that $`\stackrel{~}{p}_s(x)`$ coincides with $`p_s(x)`$ for either value of $`s`$ is that the transition must be made within each of the two sets $`K_a`$ and $`K_b`$, which is proved as follows.

Let us define $`p^{(s)}(ZK)_{xK}Prob\{Z=x\}(Z=X,\stackrel{~}{X},K=K_a,K_b)`$ as the probability that the value of $`Z`$ belongs to $`K`$. Consider quantities $`d_a(X)p^{(1)}(XK_a)p^{(2)}(XK_a)`$ and $`p_b(X)p^{(1)}(XK_b)+p^{(2)}(XK_b)`$, and their changes in the transition $`p(y|x)`$, namely, $`\mathrm{\Delta }d_ad_a(\stackrel{~}{X})d_a(X)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_bp_b(\stackrel{~}{X})p_b(X)`$. In order for $`\stackrel{~}{p}_s(x)=p_s(x)`$, these changes must be zero. These changes are caused by the transition from $`K_a`$ to $`K_b`$ or vice versa, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }d_a`$ is written as the sum of two nonpositive parts,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }d_a=\underset{yK_b}{}\underset{xK_a}{}p(y|x)[p_1(x)p_2(x)]\underset{yK_a}{}\underset{xK_b}{}p(y|x)[p_2(x)p_1(x)].$$
(20)
In order to satisfy $`\mathrm{\Delta }d_a=0`$, either part must be zero. Since $`p_1(x)p_2(x)>0`$ in the first part, $`p(y|x)`$ with $`yK_b`$ and $`xK_a`$ must vanish. Under this condition, $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_b`$ is contributed only by the transition from $`K_b`$ to $`K_a`$, and is given by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }p_b=\underset{yK_a}{}\underset{xK_b}{}p(y|x)[p_1(x)+p_2(x)].$$
(21)
Since $`p_1(x)+p_2(x)>0`$, $`p(y|x)`$ with $`yK_a`$ and $`xK_b`$ must also vanish in order to satisfy $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_b=0`$. Hence, preserving $`p_1(x)`$ and $`p_2(x)`$ requires that for any $`yK_b`$ and $`xK_a`$, $`p(y|x)`$ and $`p(x|y)`$ should vanish. The transition must be made within each of the two sets $`K_a`$ and $`K_b`$.

This argument almost directly applies to the quantum case, that is, we can show that any operation that preserves two different density operators, $`\rho `$ and $`\rho ^{}`$, must act on two subspaces independently. In order to represent this property in a simple form, we write the set of all isometries from $`|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{E}`$ as $`𝒰()`$, where $``$ is an arbitrary subspace. Then, the property is described by the following theorem.

###### Theorem 1

Let $`\rho `$ and $`\rho ^{}`$ be two density operators for different states. Let $``$ be the support of $`\rho +\rho ^{}`$, and take the decomposition $`=_1_2`$ where $`_1`$ is the space spanned by the eigenvectors of $`O\rho /\text{Tr}(\rho )\rho ^{}/\text{Tr}(\rho ^{})`$ with positive eigenvalues. Then, $`_1`$ and $`_2`$ are nonzero subspaces, and any $`U𝒰()`$ that satisfies $`𝒯_U(\rho )=\rho `$ and $`𝒯_U(\rho ^{})=\rho ^{}`$ can be written as $`U=U_1U_2`$ with $`U_i𝒰(_i)(i=1,2)`$.

For later convenience, the theorem allows for the possibility that $`\rho `$ and $`\rho ^{}`$ are unnormalized. Theorem 1 is proved as follows. Since $`\rho `$ and $`\rho ^{}`$ represent different states, $`O`$ is nonzero. The form of $`O`$ implies that $`O`$ is a traceless Hermitian operator. Hence $`O`$ has positive and negative eigenvalues, and $`_1`$ and $`_2`$ are nonzero spaces. Next, suppose that $`U𝒰()`$ satisfies $`𝒯_U(\rho )=\rho `$ and $`𝒯_U(\rho ^{})=\rho ^{}`$. Let $`P_i`$ be the projection onto $`_i(i=1,2)`$. Since $`𝒯_U`$ is linear, $`𝒯_U(O)=O`$ and $`𝒯_U(\rho +\rho ^{})=\rho +\rho ^{}`$. From $`𝒯_U(O)=O`$, Lemma 1 leads to

$$[P_1\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U](P_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(22)
This relation and $`𝒯_U(\rho +\rho ^{})=\rho +\rho ^{}`$ fulfill the requisite of Lemma 2 (with $`\rho `$ replaced by $`\rho +\rho ^{}`$), and we obtain

$$[P_2\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U](P_2\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(23)
Using Eqs. (22) and (23), we have $`U=U(P_1\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})+U(P_2\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=_{i=1,2}(P_i\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U(P_i\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})`$. This implies that $`U`$ is written as $`U=U_1U_2`$ with $`U_i𝒰(_i)(i=1,2)`$.

Now let us turn back to the classical example of preserving $`p_1(x)`$ and $`p_2(x)`$. We have seen that the transition $`p(y|x)`$ must occur within the sets $`K_a`$ and $`K_b`$ independently. We can then consider each set separately. For example, let us consider the conditional probability distributions for $`xK_a`$, namely, $`p_s(x|xK_a)p_s(x)/_{xK_a}p_s(x)(s=1,2)`$. The operation of $`p(y|x)`$ on the set $`K_a`$ should preserve these two probability distributions. Then, if $`p_1(x|xK_a)`$ and $`p_2(x|xK_a)`$ are different, the above argument can be applied again, namely, $`K_a`$ is separated into two subsets, within which the transition $`p(y|x)`$ should occur independently. These new sets and $`K_b`$ may be further separated into smaller ones by repeating similar procedures. This refinement continues and should finally stop, as long as the set of all possible values $`K_0`$ is a finite set. In order to identify the final form of the refinement, let us introduce the functions $`f_s(x)p_s(x)/_sp_s(x)`$. In a refinement process in which a subset $`Y`$ is divided into two subsets, the criteria of this division is whether $`p_1(x|xY)p_2(x|xY)`$ is positive or not. This function can be written in the form $`(\alpha _1f_1(x)\alpha _2f_2(x))_sp_s(x)`$. Hence any two elements $`x`$ and $`x^{}`$ that satisfy $`f_s(x)=f_s(x^{})`$ for all $`s`$ are always classified into the same subset. If we write the final form as $`K=_lK^{(l)}`$ with $`K^{(l)}K^{(l^{})}=\mathrm{}`$ for $`ll^{}`$, $`p_1(x|xK^{(l)})`$ and $`p_2(x|xK^{(l)})`$ should be identical for each subset $`K^{(l)}`$, since otherwise a further refinement would be possible. This condition means that $`f_s(x)=f_s(x^{})`$ for all $`s`$ and for any $`x,x^{}K^{(l)}`$. Therefore, the final form is the classification of the elements $`x`$ according to the set of values (a vector indexed by $`s`$) $`\{f_s(x)\}`$, and hence it is unique. This statement also holds for the cases when more than two probability distributions are preserved.

In quantum cases, we can similarly conduct the refinement of the decomposition of the Hilbert space into a direct sum of subspaces by repeated uses of Theorem 1. The final form of the decomposition, however, is not unique in contrast to the classical cases. One reason for this difference is that the preservation of quantum states requires another type of conditions, which will be described in the next subsection.

### C Property of quantum signals

In this subsection, we describe another basic theorem which applies when a state $`\rho `$ is preserved by an operation that affects two subspaces, $`_1`$ and $`_2`$, independently. In order to preserve the off-diagonal part $`P_2\rho P_1`$, the operation on $`_1`$ and that on $`_2`$ must satisfy a kind of ‘similarity’. This requirement is stated in the form of the following theorem.

###### Theorem 2

Let $`P_1`$ and $`P_2`$ be the projections onto orthogonal subspaces $`_1`$ and $`_2`$, respectively. Let $`\rho `$ be a density operator whose support is $`_1_2`$. Suppose that $`P_2\rho P_1\mathrm{𝟎}`$. let $`𝒦_1`$ and $`𝒦_2`$ be the support and the image of $`P_2\rho P_1`$, respectively, and $`𝒦_i^{}_i𝒦_i(i=1,2)`$. Take the polar decomposition $`P_2\rho P_1=WN`$, where $`N`$ is a positive operator on $`𝒦_1`$ and $`W`$ is a unitary operator from $`𝒦_1`$ to $`𝒦_2`$. Then, any pair of $`U_i𝒰(_i)(i=1,2)`$ that satisfies $`𝒯_{U_1U_2}(\rho )=\rho `$ can be written as $`U_i=V_i\stackrel{~}{V}_i`$, where $`V_i𝒰(𝒦_i)`$, $`\stackrel{~}{V}_i𝒰(𝒦_i^{})`$, and

$$V_2=(W\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})V_1(W^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}).$$
(24)
An intuitive explanation for this theorem is as follows. The polar decomposition of $`P_2\rho P_1`$ means that it is written as $`P_2\rho P_1=_ka_k|k_2_1k|`$, where $`a_k`$ are positive numbers, and $`\{|k_i\}`$ is a basis of $`𝒦_i`$ $`(i=1,2)`$. This implies that the coherence in $`\rho `$ is held in the pair $`(|k_1,|k_2)`$. In order to retain this coherence, the operation $`𝒯_{U_1U_2}`$ should not change this pairing relation, namely, if the operation $`V_1`$ on $`𝒦_1`$ changes $`|k_1`$ to $`|k^{}_1`$, the operation $`V_2`$ on $`𝒦_2`$ should also change $`|k_2`$ to $`|k^{}_2`$. In addition, the change in the ancilla system $`\mathrm{E}`$ caused by the operation $`V_1`$ must be identical to that by $`V_2`$ in order to avoid decoherence in the marginal state for $`_1_2`$. Therefore, $`V_1`$ and $`V_2`$ must operate on $`𝒦_1_\mathrm{E}`$ and $`𝒦_2_\mathrm{E}`$ identically under the isomorphism $`W`$, which is implied by Eq. (24).

Theorem 2 is proved as follows. Let us regard $`N`$ and $`W`$ as operators from $`_{12}_1_2`$ to $`_{12}`$ by extending the domain and the range. Note that $`N:_{12}_{12}`$ is a positive semidefinite operator with its support $`𝒦_1`$ and its image $`𝒦_1`$, and $`W:_{12}_{12}`$ is a partial isometry with its support $`𝒦_1`$ and its image $`𝒦_2`$. The operator $`W`$ satisfies $`W^2=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, $`W^{}W`$ is the projection onto $`𝒦_1`$, and $`WW^{}`$ is the projection onto $`𝒦_2`$. Let us define

$$P_\pm [W^{}W+WW^{}\pm (W+W^{})]/2.$$
(25)
These two operators are orthogonal projections since we can easily obtain $`P_\pm ^2=P_\pm `$ and $`P_+P_{}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Note that $`P_++P_{}`$ is the projection onto $`𝒦_1𝒦_2`$. Using these projections, define

$$O4(P_+\sqrt{N}P_+)^24(P_{}\sqrt{N}P_{})^2.$$
(26)
Substituting Eq. (25) and using relations such as $`W^2=NW=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`W^{}W\sqrt{N}=\sqrt{N}`$, we obtain $`O=WN+NW^{}=P_2\rho P_1+P_1\rho P_2`$. Since $`O^2=WN^2W^{}+N^2`$, the support of $`O`$ is $`𝒦_1𝒦_2`$. Let us suppose that $`U_1𝒰(_1)`$ and $`U_2𝒰(_2)`$ satisfy $`𝒯_{U_1U_2}(\rho )=\rho `$. Noting that

$$[P_i\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U_1U_2](P_i\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}(i=1,2),$$
(27)
we have

$$𝒯_{U_1U_2}(P_i\rho P_j)=P_i𝒯_{U_1U_2}(\rho )P_j=P_i\rho P_j$$
(28)
for any $`i=1,2`$ and $`j=1,2`$. From this relation, we have $`𝒯_{U_1U_2}(O)=O`$. The form of Eq. (26), together with the fact that the support of $`O`$ coincides with the support of $`P_++P_{}`$, means that $`P_+`$ is the projection onto the space spanned by the eigenvectors of $`O`$ with positive eigenvalues. Then, using Lemma 1, we obtain

$$[P_+\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U_1U_2](P_+\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(29)
Similarly, noting that $`𝒯_{U_1U_2}(O)=O`$ and that $`P_{}`$ is the projection onto the space spanned by the eigenvectors of $`O`$ with positive eigenvalues, we have

$$[P_{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U_1U_2](P_{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(30)
Combining Eqs. (29) and (30) with $`W^{}W+WW^{}=P_++P_{}`$, we obtain $`[(W^{}W+WW^{})\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U_1U_2]((W^{}W+WW^{})\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, or equivalently,

$$[W^{}W\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U_1](W^{}W\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}$$
(31)
and

$$[WW^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U_2](WW^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(32)
From Eq. (28), we have $`𝒯_{U_1U_2}(P_1\rho P_1)=𝒯_{U_1}(P_1\rho P_1)=P_1\rho P_1`$. Applying this and Eq. (31) to Lemma 2 (note that the support of $`P_1\rho P_1`$ is $`_1=𝒦_1𝒦_1^{}`$), we obtain

$$[(P_1W^{}W)\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U_1]((P_1W^{}W)\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(33)
Eqs. (31) and (33) implies that $`U_1`$ can be written as $`U_1=V_1\stackrel{~}{V}_1`$, where $`V_1𝒰(𝒦_1)`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{V}_1𝒰(𝒦_1^{})`$ are related to $`U_1`$ as $`V_1=U_1|𝒦_1`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{V}_1=U_1|𝒦_1^{}`$. The same argument applies to Eq. (32), leading to the conclusion that $`U_2`$ can be written as $`U_2=V_2\stackrel{~}{V}_2`$, where $`V_2𝒰(𝒦_2)`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{V}_2𝒰(𝒦_2^{})`$ are related to $`U_2`$ as $`V_2=U_2|𝒦_2`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{V}_2=U_2|𝒦_2^{}`$. Finally, combining Eqs. (29) and (30) with $`W+W^{}=P_+P_{}`$, we obtain $`[(W+W^{})\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U_1U_2]((W+W^{})\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Expanding this leads to

$`(W\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U_1(W^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})+(W^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U_2(W\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})`$ (34)
$`U_1(W^{}W\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U_2(WW^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}.`$ (35)
Applying $`P_2\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E}`$ from the right (and restricting the domain to $`𝒦_2`$), we obtain Eq. (24), which completes the proof.

## IV Structure of Hilbert space

The requirement coming from Theorem 2 introduces a structure in the Hilbert space, which is more complicated than a direct-sum decomposition into subspaces, namely, some of the subspaces (e.g., $`𝒦_1`$ and $`𝒦_2`$) are isometrically isomorphic through unitary operators (e.g., $`W`$) connecting them. To handle such a structure in general, we introduce a way of decomposing a Hilbert space $``$ as follows. First, $``$ is decomposed to a direct sum of its orthogonal subspaces $`^{(1)},^{(2)},\mathrm{},^{(l_{\mathrm{max}})}`$, namely,

$$=\underset{l=1}{\overset{l_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}^{(l)}.$$
(36)
The size of each subspace is arbitrary. Then, each subspace $`^{(l)}`$ is further decomposed to a direct sum of its orthogonal subspaces $`_1^{(l)},_2^{(l)},\mathrm{},_{j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}}^{(l)}`$, namely,

$$^{(l)}=\underset{j=1}{\overset{j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}}{}}_j^{(l)}.$$
(37)
Here the subspaces $`\{_j^{(l)}\}(j=1,2,\mathrm{},j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)})`$ are of the same size, and an isometrically isomorphic relation are defined among them through a set of unitary operators $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}:_j^{(l)}_j^{}^{(l)}\}`$ satisfying $`W_{kj}^{(l)}W_{ji}^{(l)}=W_{ki}^{(l)}`$. The numbers $`l_{\mathrm{max}}`$ and $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}`$ should satisfy

$$\mathrm{dim}=\underset{l=1}{\overset{l_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}\mathrm{dim}_1^{(l)}.$$
(38)
The above decomposition can be completely specified by a set of partial isometries $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ acting on $``$ satisfying the following three conditions,

$$W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}=W_{jj^{}}^{(l)},$$
(39)
$$W_{j^{}i^{}}^{(l^{})}W_{ij}^{(l)}=\delta _{l,l^{}}\delta _{i,i^{}}W_{j^{}j}^{(l)},$$
(40)
and

$$\underset{l=1}{\overset{l_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}}{}}W_{jj}^{(l)}=\mathrm{𝟏},$$
(41)
where $`\mathrm{𝟏}`$ is the projection onto $``$. Given such $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$, we can determine $`\{_j^{(l)}\}`$ as follows. From Eq. (40), we have $`W_{j^{}j^{}}^{(l^{})}W_{jj}^{(l)}=\delta _{l,l^{}}\delta _{j,j^{}}W_{jj}^{(l)}`$. This means that $`\{W_{jj}^{(l)}\}`$ are projection operators orthogonal to each other. If we take $`_j^{(l)}`$ as the support of $`W_{jj}^{(l)}`$, Eq. (41) assures that Eqs. (36) and (37) are satisfied. For $`jj^{}`$, the relation $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}=W_{jj}^{(l)}`$ and $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}=W_{j^{}j^{}}^{(l)}`$ resulting from Eqs. (39) and (40) means that the support and the image of $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}`$ are $`_j^{(l)}`$ and $`_j^{}^{(l)}`$, respectively. The map $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}:_j^{(l)}_j^{}^{(l)}`$ is hence unitary and introduces an isometrically isomorphic relation between $`_j^{(l)}`$ and $`_j^{}^{(l)}`$. The compatibility relation $`W_{j^{}i}^{(l)}W_{ij}^{(l)}=W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}`$ coming from Eq. (40) assures that an isometrically isomorphic relation are defined among $`\{_j^{(l)}\}(j=1,2,\mathrm{},j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)})`$.

The isomorphic relation among $`\{_j^{(l)}\}`$ naturally defines an isomorphism (unitary map) $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(l)}`$ from $`^{(l)}`$ to a tensor-product Hilbert space $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, where $`\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}=j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}`$ and $`\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}=\mathrm{dim}_1^{(l)}(=\mathrm{dim}_2^{(l)}=\mathrm{})`$. The unitary map $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(l)}:^{(l)}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ is defined as follows. Take an arbitrary basis $`\{|j_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\}(j=1,2,\mathrm{},j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)})`$ for $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ and an arbitrary unitary operator $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{(l)}`$ from $`_1^{(l)}`$ to $`|1_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. Then, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(l)}`$ is given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(l)}=\underset{j=1}{\overset{j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}}{}}(|j_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}1|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{(l)}W_{1j}^{(l)}.$$
(42)
Form $`\{\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(l)}\}`$, we can construct an isomorphism (unitary map) $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ from $``$ to $`_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\underset{l}{}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(l)}.$$
(43)
Conversely, given a unitary map $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ we can construct a set of partial isometries $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ in $``$ satisfying Eqs. (39)–(41) as follows. Take an arbitrary basis $`\{|j_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\}(j=1,2,\mathrm{},j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)})`$ for $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. Then, if we set

$$W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}=\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}(|j^{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}j|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\mathrm{\Gamma },$$
(44)
Eqs. (39)–(41) are apparently satisfied.

In the above construction of $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, we see that different decompositions, $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ and $`\{\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ for example, can be derived from the same $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ due to the arbitrariness in the choice of basis $`\{|j_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\}`$ . This implies that the two different sets $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ and $`\{\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ correspond to the same structure in $``$. The definition of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ also has similar degeneracy, e.g., changing the order of the index $`l`$ merely alters the way of representation and does not change the structure itself. It is thus natural to define a structure in $``$ as an equivalence class defined among the sets $`\{\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ or among the isometries $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, in the following way. Two decompositions specified by $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ and $`\{\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ are equivalent and correspond to the same structure if

$$\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(P(l))}=\underset{i,i^{}}{}u_{j^{}i^{}}^{(l)}W_{i^{}i}^{(l)}u_{ji}^{(l)},$$
(45)
where $`P(l)`$ is a permutation of the index $`l`$ and $`u_{ij}^{(l)}`$ is the $`(i,j)`$ element of a unitary matrix $`u^{(l)}`$. Two decompositions specified by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}:_l\stackrel{~}{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\stackrel{~}{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ are equivalent and correspond to the same structure if $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}`$ is written as

$$\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}=\underset{l}{}v_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}v_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}$$
(46)
where $`v_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ is a unitary map from $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ to $`\stackrel{~}{}_\mathrm{J}^{(P(l))}`$, and $`v_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ is a unitary map from $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ to $`\stackrel{~}{}_\mathrm{K}^{(P(l))}`$.

The relation among the definitions made so far is summarized as follows. A structure $`D`$ is specified if a set $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ or a map $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is given. Given a structure $`D`$, the set $`\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ and the map $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ are not uniquely determined, and are only determined up to the conditions (45) and (46). The quantity $`l_{\mathrm{max}}`$ is uniquely determined, and $`\{j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}\}`$ are unique up to the permutation of the index $`l`$.

In the rest of the paper, we represent the isomorphic relation defined from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ simply by

$$=\underset{l}{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}.$$
(47)
An operator $`A`$ acting on $``$ and an operator $`A_{\mathrm{JK}}`$ acting on $`_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ is regarded as the same if

$$A_{\mathrm{JK}}=\mathrm{\Gamma }A\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}$$
(48)
holds. We also simply write this relation as

$$A_{\mathrm{JK}}=A,$$
(49)
whenever the identity of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is obvious in the context.

## V Operation preserving a set of states

In this section, we give a solution to the problem formulated in Sec. II, namely, we identify the set $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$ given in Eq. (3). We first define a set of isometries $`𝒱(D)`$ associated with a structure $`D`$ in $`_\mathrm{A}`$, and define an index $`r(D)`$ which gives the degree of refinement of $`D`$. Then, we apply Theorem 1 and Theorem 2 repeatedly to refine the structure in $`_\mathrm{A}`$, obtaining a series of structures $`D_0,D_1,\mathrm{},D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ satisfying $`r(D_0)<r(D_1)<\mathrm{}<r(D_{\mathrm{fin}})`$ and $`𝒱(D_0)𝒱(D_1)𝒱(D_{\mathrm{fin}})𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$. It will be shown that under the final structure $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$, the states $`\{\rho _s\}`$ have a simple form \[Eq. (94)\], and we can easily identify the set $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$.

We first define a set of isometries $`𝒱(D)`$ associated with a structure $`D`$ in $`_\mathrm{A}`$. Let $`𝒲_D=\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ be a set of isometries that specifies $`D`$. With this notation, we define the set $`𝒱(D)`$ as

$`𝒱(D)\{U𝒰_{\mathrm{all}}|{}_{}{}^{}W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}𝒲_D,`$ (50)
$`U(W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U\}.`$ (51)
This definition is consistent with the arbitrariness in the choice of $`𝒲_D`$, namely, $`𝒱(D)`$ depends only on $`D`$. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_D:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be the isomorphism determined from $`𝒲_D`$ through Eqs. (42) and (43). Under this isomorphism, let $`O_\mathrm{A}`$ be an operator acting on $`_\mathrm{A}`$ that is written as

$$O_\mathrm{A}=\underset{l}{}O_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)},$$
(52)
where $`O_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ operates on $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. Using Eq. (44), $`O_\mathrm{A}`$ is written as a linear combination $`O_\mathrm{A}=_l_{j,j^{}}c_{j^{}j}^{(l)}W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}`$. Hence, $`U(O_\mathrm{A}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(O_\mathrm{A}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U`$ holds for any $`U𝒱(D)`$. Since $`U`$ satisfies this equation for any $`O_\mathrm{A}`$ in the form of Eq. (52), we conclude that any $`U𝒱(D)`$ can be written in a simple form

$$U=\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)},$$
(53)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}𝒰(_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})`$. Conversely, any isometry written in the form (53) belongs to $`𝒱(D)`$, because any $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}`$ has a form of $`O_\mathrm{A}`$ in Eq. (52).

Next, we introduce an index $`r(D)`$ which represents the degree of refinement of the structure $`D`$, defined as

$$r(D)\frac{1}{2}\left(\underset{l=1}{\overset{l_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}\right)\left(\underset{l=1}{\overset{l_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}+1\right)l_{\mathrm{max}}+1.$$
(54)
This quantity takes an integer value in the following range

$$1r\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{A})(\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{A}+1).$$
(55)
This bound ensures that, when $`\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{A}`$ is finite, any procedure of finding a series of structures with increasing degree of refinement will halt within a finite number of steps.

The starting point of the refinement is to show that the trivial structure $`D_0`$ in $`_\mathrm{A}`$, for which $`l_{\mathrm{max}}=1`$, $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}=1`$, satisfies $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(D_0)`$. Applying $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}`$ to Lemma 1 and noting Eq. (6), we obtain

$$[\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{A}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E},U](\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{A}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{𝟎}$$
(56)
for any isometry $`U𝒰_{\mathrm{all}}`$ that satisfies $`𝒯_U(\rho _{\mathrm{all}})=\rho _{\mathrm{all}}`$. Here $`\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{A}`$ is the projection onto $`_\mathrm{A}`$. This equation implies that the image of any $`U𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$ is a subspace of $`_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{E}`$, namely, $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒰(_\mathrm{A})`$. Since the set $`𝒲_{D_0}`$ consists of only one element, $`W_{11}^{(1)}=\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{A}`$, it is obvious from the definition (51) that $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(D_0)`$.

Next, we state two lemmas to show that applying Theorem 1 and Theorem 2 generally advances the refinement.

###### Lemma 3

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be a unitary map that specifies a structure $`D`$. Suppose that $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(D)`$ and there exist $`sS`$, $`l^{}`$, a pure state $`|a_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$, and a unitary operator $`V`$ acting on $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$ such that for any $`c0`$,

$`(|aa|V\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\rho _s(V^{}|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})`$ (57)
$`c(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\rho _{\mathrm{all}}(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}).`$ (58)
Then, there exists a structure $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$ such that $`r(\stackrel{~}{D})>r(D)`$ and $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(\stackrel{~}{D})`$.

For the proof, we actually construct $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$ assuming that $`\rho (|aa|V\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(1)})\rho _s(V^{}|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(1)})`$ and $`\rho ^{}(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(1)})\rho _{\mathrm{all}}(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(1)})`$ are different states (here we have assumed that $`l^{}=1`$, without loss of generality). Let $`=|a_\mathrm{K}^{(1)}`$. Eq. (6) assures that $``$ is the support of $`\rho ^{}`$, and hence is the support of $`\rho +\rho ^{}`$. Then, using Theorem 1, we can find the decomposition $`=_1_2`$ where $`_1`$ and $`_2`$ are nonzero subspaces. Next, take a basis $`\{|j_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\}(j=1,2,\mathrm{},j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)})`$ for $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ such that $`|1_\mathrm{J}^{(1)}=|a`$, and construct a set $`𝒲=\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ by Eq. (44). Let $`P_1`$ and $`P_2`$ be the projection onto $`_1`$ and $`_2`$, respectively, and define a new set $`\stackrel{~}{𝒲}=\{\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ as follows,

$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(1)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}1}^{(1)}P_1W_{1j}^{(1)}`$ (59)
$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l_{\mathrm{max}}+1)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}1}^{(1)}P_2W_{1j}^{(1)}`$ (60)
$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}(2ll_{\mathrm{max}}).`$ (61)
Noting that $`P_1+P_2=W_{11}^{(1)}`$, we can easily confirm that the conditions (39)–(41) are satisfied by this new set $`\stackrel{~}{𝒲}`$, and hence $`\stackrel{~}{𝒲}`$ specifies a structure of $`_\mathrm{A}`$. Let us denote this structure by $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$.

The quantities $`\stackrel{~}{l}_{\mathrm{max}}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}`$ for $`\stackrel{~}{𝒲}`$ are related to $`l_{\mathrm{max}}`$ and $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}`$ for $`𝒲`$ as

$`\stackrel{~}{l}_{\mathrm{max}}`$ $`=`$ $`l_{\mathrm{max}}+1`$ (62)
$`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l_{\mathrm{max}}+1)}=j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}`$ (63)
$`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}`$ $`=`$ $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}(2ll_{\mathrm{max}}).`$ (64)
Then, from Eq. (54) and $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}1`$, we have

$`r(\stackrel{~}{D})r(D)`$ (65)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}}{2}}\left(2{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{l_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}}j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}+j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}+1\right)11.`$ (66)
Hence $`r(\stackrel{~}{D})>r(D)`$.

Since $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(D)`$, any $`U𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$ can be written as $`U=_l\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$ \[Eq. (53)\]. From this form and the relations $`𝒯_U(\rho _s)=\rho _s`$ and $`𝒯_U(\rho _{\mathrm{all}})=\rho _{\mathrm{all}}`$, we have $`𝒯_{U_0}(\rho )=\rho `$ and $`𝒯_{U_0}(\rho ^{})=\rho ^{}`$ where $`U_0|aa|U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(1)}𝒰()`$. Then, from Theorem 1, $`U_0`$ is written as $`U_0=U_1U_2`$ with $`U_i𝒰(_i)(i=1,2)`$. This form implies that $`U(P_i\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=U_0(P_i\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(P_i\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U_0=(P_i\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U`$ for $`i=1,2`$. Since $`U𝒱(D)`$, $`U(W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U`$ for any $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}𝒲`$. Combining these commuting relations and Eqs. (59)–(61), we have

$$U(\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U$$
(67)
for any $`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\stackrel{~}{𝒲}`$. Hence $`U𝒱(\stackrel{~}{D})`$, and we obtain $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(\stackrel{~}{D})`$. This completes the proof of Lemma 3.

###### Lemma 4

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be a unitary map that specifies a structure $`D`$. Suppose that $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(D)`$ and there exist $`sS`$, $`l^{}`$, $`l^{\prime \prime }(l^{})`$, a pure state $`|a`$ in $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$, and a pure state $`|b`$ in $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{\prime \prime })}`$ satisfying the following conditions,

$$\mathrm{Supp}((|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\rho _s(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}))=|a_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})},$$
(68)
$$\mathrm{Supp}((|bb|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{\prime \prime })})\rho _s(|bb|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{\prime \prime })}))=|b_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{\prime \prime })},$$
(69)
and

$$(|bb|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{\prime \prime })})\rho _s(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\mathrm{𝟎}.$$
(70)
Then, there exists a structure $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$ such that $`r(\stackrel{~}{D})>r(D)`$ and $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(\stackrel{~}{D})`$.

For the proof, we actually construct $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$ assuming that conditions (68)–(70) are satisfied for $`l^{}=1`$ and $`l^{\prime \prime }=2`$, without loss of generality. Let $`_1=|a_\mathrm{K}^{(1)}`$, $`_2=|b_\mathrm{K}^{(2)}`$, and $`P_i`$ be the projection onto $`_i(i=1,2)`$. Then, We can apply Theorem 2 by choosing $`\rho =(P_1+P_2)\rho _s(P_1+P_2)`$, and obtain the decomposition $`_i=𝒦_i𝒦_i^{}(i=1,2)`$ where $`𝒦_1`$ and $`𝒦_2`$ are nonzero subspaces, and the unitary operator $`W:𝒦_1𝒦_2`$. Without loss of generality, we assume that $`\mathrm{dim}𝒦_1^{}\mathrm{dim}𝒦_2^{}`$. Note that $`𝒦_i^{}(i=1,2)`$ may be zero. Next, take a basis $`\{|j_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\}(j=1,2,\mathrm{},j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)})`$ for $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ ($`l=1,2`$) such that $`|1_\mathrm{J}^{(1)}=|a`$ and $`|1_\mathrm{J}^{(2)}=|b`$, and construct a set $`𝒲=\{W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ by Eq. (44). Let $`Q_i`$ and $`Q_i^{}`$ be the projection onto $`𝒦_i`$ and $`𝒦_i^{}(i=1,2)`$, respectively, and define a new set $`\stackrel{~}{𝒲}=\{\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\}`$ as follows,

$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(1)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}1}^{(1)}Q_1W_{1j}^{(1)}`$ (71)
$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{},\beta +j}^{(1)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}1}^{(1)}Q_1W^{}Q_2W_{1j}^{(2)}`$ (72)
$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{\beta +j^{},j}^{(1)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}1}^{(2)}Q_2WQ_1W_{1j}^{(1)}`$ (73)
$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{\beta +j^{},\beta +j}^{(1)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}1}^{(2)}Q_2W_{1j}^{(2)}`$ (74)
$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l1)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}(3ll_{\mathrm{max}})`$ (75)
$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l_{\mathrm{max}})}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}1}^{(1)}Q_1^{}W_{1j}^{(1)}(\mathrm{if}\mathrm{dim}𝒦_1^{}0)`$ (76)
$`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l_{\mathrm{max}}+1)}`$ $``$ $`W_{j^{}1}^{(2)}Q_2^{}W_{1j}^{(2)}(\mathrm{if}\mathrm{dim}𝒦_2^{}0),`$ (77)
where $`\beta j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}`$. Noting that $`Q_i+Q_i^{}=W_{11}^{(i)}(i=1,2)`$, we can easily confirm that the conditions (39)–(41) are satisfied by this new set $`\stackrel{~}{𝒲}`$, and hence $`\stackrel{~}{𝒲}`$ specifies a structure of $`_\mathrm{A}`$. Let us denote this structure by $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$.

The quantities $`\stackrel{~}{l}_{\mathrm{max}}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}`$ for $`\stackrel{~}{𝒲}`$ are related to $`l_{\mathrm{max}}`$ and $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}`$ for $`𝒲`$ as

$`\stackrel{~}{l}_{\mathrm{max}}`$ $`=`$ $`l_{\mathrm{max}}1+s_1+s_2`$ (78)
$`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}+j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(2)}`$ (79)
$`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l1)}`$ $`=`$ $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}(3ll_{\mathrm{max}})`$ (80)
$`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l_{\mathrm{max}})}`$ $`=`$ $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}(\mathrm{if}\mathrm{dim}𝒦_1^{}0)`$ (81)
$`\stackrel{~}{j}_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l_{\mathrm{max}}+1)}`$ $`=`$ $`j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(2)}(\mathrm{if}\mathrm{dim}𝒦_2^{}0),`$ (82)
where $`s_i=1`$ if $`\mathrm{dim}𝒦_i^{}0`$, and $`s_i=0`$ if $`\mathrm{dim}𝒦_i^{}=0`$. Then, from Eq. (54), we have

$`r(\stackrel{~}{D})r(D)`$ (83)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{s}{2}}\left(2{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{l_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}}j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(l)}+s+1\right)+1s_1s_2,`$ (84)
where $`ss_1j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(1)}+s_2j_{\mathrm{max}}^{(2)}`$. Since $`ss_1+s_20`$, we obtain $`r(\stackrel{~}{D})r(D)1`$. Hence $`r(\stackrel{~}{D})>r(D)`$.

Since $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(D)`$, any $`U𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$ can be written as $`U=_l\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$. From this form and the relations $`𝒯_U(\rho _s)=\rho _s`$, we have $`𝒯_{U_1U_2}(\rho )=\rho `$ where $`U_1|aa|U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(1)}𝒰(_1)`$ and $`U_2|bb|U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(2)}𝒰(_2)`$. Then, from Theorem 2, $`U_i=V_i\stackrel{~}{V}_i`$, where $`V_i𝒰(𝒦_i)`$, $`\stackrel{~}{V}_i𝒰(𝒦_i^{})(i=1,2)`$, and $`V_2=(W\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})V_1(W^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})`$. This form implies that, for $`i=1,2`$, $`U(Q_i\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=V_i(Q_i\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(Q_i\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})V_i=(Q_i\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U`$, and $`U(Q_i^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\stackrel{~}{V}_i(Q_i^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(Q_i^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})\stackrel{~}{V}_i=(Q_i^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U`$. We can also show that $`U(W\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=V_2(W\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(W\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})V_1=(W\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U`$ and $`U(W^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=V_1(W^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(W^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})V_2=(W^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U`$. Since $`U𝒱(D)`$, $`U(W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U`$ for any $`W_{j^{}j}^{(l)}𝒲`$. Combining these commuting relations and Eqs. (71)–(77), we have

$$U(\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=(\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{E})U$$
(85)
for any $`\stackrel{~}{W}_{j^{}j}^{(l)}\stackrel{~}{𝒲}`$. Hence $`U𝒱(\stackrel{~}{D})`$, and we obtain $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(\stackrel{~}{D})`$. This completes the proof of Lemma 4.

Lemma 3 and Lemma 4 mean that starting from $`D_0`$, we can find a sequence $`D_0,D_1,D_2,\mathrm{},D_n,\mathrm{}`$ that satisfies $`r(D_0)<r(D_1)<r(D_2)<\mathrm{}`$ and $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(D_n)`$. Since the integer value $`r(D_n)`$ has an upper bound shown in Eq. (55), the sequence must end at some point. Let $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ be the last one in the sequence, and consider an isomorphism $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{fin}}:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ corresponding to $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$. $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ should not satisfy the prerequisites of Lemma 3 and Lemma 4. From the prerequisite of Lemma 3, wee see that $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ satisfies the following: for any $`sS`$, $`l`$, a pure state $`|a_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, and any unitary operator $`V`$ acting on $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, there exists $`c0`$ such that

$`(|aa|V\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\rho _s(V^{}|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})`$ (86)
$`=c(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\rho _{\mathrm{all}}(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}).`$ (87)
Let us fix $`l`$ and $`|a`$ for the moment. Because of Eq. (6), $`Z\mathrm{Tr}[(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\rho _{\mathrm{all}}(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})]0`$. Let us define a normalized density operator $`\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ acting on $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ as

$$\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}(a|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\rho _{\mathrm{all}}(|a\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})/Z.$$
(88)
Eq. (6) also assures that

$$\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)})=_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}.$$
(89)
The condition (87) can be stated that, for any $`sS`$ and any unitary operator $`V`$, there exists $`c^{}0`$ such that

$`(|aa|V\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\rho _s(V^{}|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})`$ (90)
$`=c^{}|aa|\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}.`$ (91)
This is satisfied if and only if $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$ are written in the form

$$(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\rho _s(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})=p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)},$$
(92)
where $`p^{(s,l)}0`$ and $`\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}`$, which is defined only when $`p^{(s,l)}>0`$, is a normalized density operator acting on $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. Note that $`\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ is independent of $`s`$.

Next, let us consider the prerequisite (68)–(70) of Lemma 4. If Eq. (70) is satisfied, $`(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\rho _s(|aa|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\mathrm{𝟎}`$. Then, the form (92) and Eq. (89) implies that Eq. (68) is also satisfied. Similarly, Eq. (69) is also satisfied and all the prerequisite is met. Therefore, the condition that $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ should not satisfy the prerequisite of Lemma 4 means that

$$(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\rho _s(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})=\mathrm{𝟎}$$
(93)
for any $`l`$ and $`l^{}(l)`$.

Now we can state the main conclusion of this paper. From Eqs. (1), (92), and (93), we conclude that $`\rho _s`$ is written as

$$\rho _s=\underset{l}{}p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)},$$
(94)
under the decomposition of their support $`_\mathrm{A}`$,

$$_\mathrm{A}=\underset{l}{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)},$$
(95)
which corresponds to $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$. Here $`\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}`$ and $`\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ are normalized density operators acting on $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ and $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, respectively, and $`p^{(s,l)}`$ is the probability for the state $`\rho _s`$ to be in the subspace $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. Note that $`\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ is independent of $`s`$. Since $`𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}𝒱(D_{\mathrm{fin}})`$, any $`U𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$ should be written as

$$U=\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)},$$
(96)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}𝒰(_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})`$. It is obvious that $`U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$ must obey

$$\text{Tr}_\mathrm{E}[U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}(\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}]=\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}.$$
(97)
The condition expressed by (96) and (97) together is an equivalent condition for the condition $`𝒯_U(\rho _s)=\rho _s`$, since the sufficiency is apparently satisfied.

The condition (96), which is applied for an isometry $`U:_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$, can be rewritten in the form that applies to a unitary operator acting on $`_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$ as follows. Any unitary operator $`U`$ acting on $`_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$ that preserves $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$ is expressed in the following form,

$$U(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{A}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}),$$
(98)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$ are unitary operators acting on the combined space $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_\mathrm{E}`$.

From the decomposition (94), we can classify the degrees of freedom of the system into three types — (a) The index $`l`$. The information on $`s`$ is stored classically, since there are no off-diagonal elements and everything is expressed by the probability distribution $`p^{(s,l)}`$. The operation $`U`$, which preserves $`\{\rho _s\}`$, must act independently on each subspace $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. With such $`U`$ one can establish classical correlations between the system and the ancilla through $`l`$, but not quantum correlations. (b) The inner degree of freedom for each $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. The information on $`s`$ is stored nonclassically, in the sense that there are nonvanishing off-diagonal elements for any nontrivial observables. The operation $`U`$ must not act on this degree of freedom. (c) The inner degree of freedom for each $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. No information on $`s`$ is stored here. The operation $`U`$ can do anything as long as it leaves the system in the known state $`\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. For example, one can establish quantum correlation between the system and the ancilla. In short, the principle derived here is stated as follows. In order to preserve the state of a system, no access is allowed to the part with quantum information, classical access is allowed to the part with classical information, and quantum access is allowed to the part with no information.

## VI Properties of structure

In the last section, we introduced a procedure to actually construct a structure $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$, and stated the principle for the operations preserving $`\{\rho _s\}`$ using $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$. In this section, we will show that the structure $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ derived from the procedure is unique. We will also give a criteria of determining whether a given structure is equivalent to $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ or not, without doing the procedure in Sec. V.

We first define a property of structure called ‘maximal’, which is, as will soon be shown, the property possessed by $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$.

###### Definition 1

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be a unitary isomorphism corresponding to a structure $`D`$. We call $`D`$ maximal if the following three conditions are met.

(i) $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\rho _s\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}`$ is written as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }\rho _s\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}=\underset{l}{}p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)},$$
(99)
where $`\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}`$ and $`\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ are normalized density operators acting on $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ and $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, respectively.

(ii) If a projection $`P:_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ satisfies

$$Pp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}P$$
(100)
for all $`sS`$, then $`P=\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ or $`P=\mathrm{𝟎}`$.

(iii) No unitary operator $`V:_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$ $`(ll^{})`$ exists that satisfies

$$Vp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=\alpha p^{(s,l^{})}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l^{})}V$$
(101)
for all $`sS`$ and for a positive number $`\alpha `$.

We will then prove that the structure derived and used in the previous section satisfies the above conditions, namely,

###### Lemma 5

Any structure $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ derived by the procedure in Sec. V is maximal.

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{fin}}:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be an isomorphism corresponding to $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$. The condition (i) in Definition 1 is apparently satisfied. For the condition (ii), suppose that a projection $`P:_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ satisfies $`Pp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}P`$ for any $`sS`$. Construct an isometry $`U_1𝒰(_\mathrm{A})`$ such that it operates on $`^{(l)}`$ as

$$U_1[(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})|u_\mathrm{E}u|]=(P\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})|u^{}_\mathrm{E}u|+[(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}P)\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}]|u_\mathrm{E}u|,$$
(102)
where $`|u^{}_\mathrm{E}`$ is a state orthogonal to $`|u_\mathrm{E}`$, and $`U_1`$ leaves the other subspaces unaltered. It is easy to show that $`U_1𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$ using the relation $`Pp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}P`$. This means that $`U_1`$ should be written in the form of Eq. (96), which is only possible when $`P=\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ or $`P=\mathrm{𝟎}`$. For the condition (iii), we will show that the existence of $`V`$ leads to a contradiction. Without loss of generality, assume that there exists a unitary operator $`V:_\mathrm{J}^{(1)}_\mathrm{J}^{(2)}`$ that satisfies $`p^{(s,1)}V\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,1)}V^{}=\alpha p^{(s,2)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,2)}`$. We can construct an isometry $`U_2𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$ in the following way. Let $`_\mathrm{E}^{(1)}`$ and $`_\mathrm{E}^{(2)}`$ be orthogonal subspaces of $`_\mathrm{E}`$ that are also orthogonal to $`|u_\mathrm{E}`$. There exists an isometry $`V_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(21)}:_\mathrm{K}^{(1)}|u_\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{K}^{(2)}_\mathrm{E}^{(2)}`$ satisfying $`\text{Tr}_\mathrm{E}[V_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(21)}(\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(1)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})V_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(21)}]=\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(2)}`$. Physically, a simple example is the operation that discards the input state away and prepares the system in $`\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(2)}`$. Similarly, let $`V_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(12)}:_\mathrm{K}^{(2)}|u_\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{K}^{(1)}_\mathrm{E}^{(1)}`$ be an isometry satisfying $`\text{Tr}_\mathrm{E}[V_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(12)}(\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(2)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})V_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(12)}]=\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(1)}`$. Then, we can construct a unitary operator $`U_2`$ such that it acts on $`^{(1)}^{(2)}`$ as

$`U_2[(P^{(1)}+P^{(2)})\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}]`$ $`=`$ $`\beta (P^{(1)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}+V^{}V_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(12)})`$ (104)
$`+\sqrt{1\beta ^2}(VV_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(21)}+P^{(2)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}),`$
where $`P^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ $`(l=1,2)`$ and $`\beta =\sqrt{\alpha /(1+\alpha )}`$, and it does nothing on the other subspaces with $`l>2`$. It is then easy to show that $`U_2𝒰_{\mathrm{ND}}`$ using the relation $`p^{(s,1)}V\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,1)}V^{}=\alpha p^{(s,2)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,2)}`$. On the other hand, because of the cross terms $`V^{}V_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(12)}`$ and $`VV_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(21)}`$, $`U_2`$ cannot be written in the form of Eq. (96), leading to a contradiction. The lemma is thus proved.

It is convenient to give a lemma showing that the conditions (ii) and (iii) in Definition 1 are equivalent to slightly stronger conditions.

###### Lemma 6

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be a unitary isomorphism that corresponds to a maximal structure $`D`$, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\rho _s\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}=_lp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. Then,

(ii) If an operator $`\mathrm{\Lambda }:_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ satisfies

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=\beta p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\mathrm{\Lambda }$$
(105)
for all $`sS`$ and for a complex number $`\beta `$, then $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=c\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, where $`c`$ is a complex number. Especially, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ when $`\beta 1`$.

(iii) If an operator $`\mathrm{\Lambda }:_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$ $`(ll^{})`$ satisfies

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=\alpha p^{(s,l^{})}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l^{})}\mathrm{\Lambda }$$
(106)
for all $`sS`$ and for a positive number $`\alpha `$, then $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{𝟎}`$.

First, we prove (ii). If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is invertible in $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, operating $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^1`$ from the left and taking the trace for both sides of Eq. (105), we have $`p^{(s,l)}=\beta p^{(s,l)}`$ for any $`s`$ and hence $`\beta =1`$. $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is thus not invertible if $`\beta 1`$. Let $`c`$ be an eigenvalue of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ when $`\beta =1`$, and let $`c=0`$ when $`\beta 1`$. Define $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }c\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. Then, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ is not invertible in $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ for any value of $`\beta `$. From Eq. (105), we have $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=\beta p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$. Let $`P`$ be the projection onto $`\mathrm{Ker}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$, the kernel of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$. For any vector $`|a\mathrm{Ker}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}|a=\beta p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}|a=0`$ and hence $`p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}|a\mathrm{Ker}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$. We thus have $`Pp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}P`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ is not invertible in $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, $`P\mathrm{𝟎}`$. From (ii) in Definition 1, we have $`P=\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, hence $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=c\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. For the proof of (iii), suppose that Eq. (106) holds. Together with its Hermite conjugate, we have $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ for all $`s`$. From (ii), $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }=c\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. A similar argument gives $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}=c^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{𝟎}`$, $`c>0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }/\sqrt{c}:_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$ is unitary, but this conflicts with (iii) in Definition 1. Hence $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{𝟎}`$.

The conditions (ii) and (iii) for maximal structures have a simple meaning when we consider the algebra over $`C`$ generated by the set of operators $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$. Let us denote this algebra by $`𝒳`$. $`_\mathrm{A}`$ is then regarded as a $`𝒳`$-module. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be an isomorphism corresponding to a maximal structure $`D`$. Let us write a diagonalization of $`\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ as

$$\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}=\underset{k}{}q_k^{(l)}|a_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}a_k|,$$
(107)
where $`\{|a_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\}`$ $`(k=1,2,\mathrm{},\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)})`$ is a basis of $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, and $`q_k^{(l)}>0`$ since $`\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}})=_\mathrm{A}`$. Consider a direct-sum decomposition $`_\mathrm{A}=_l(_k^{(l,k)})`$, where $`^{(l,k)}=_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|a_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ under the isomorphism $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. $`^{(l,k)}`$ are then $`𝒳`$-submodules, namely, $`A|x^{(l,k)}`$ for any $`A𝒳`$ and for any $`|x^{(l,k)}`$. The condition (ii) or (ii) implies that $`^{(l,k)}`$ is simple, namely, it has no submodules other than zero and $`^{(l,k)}`$ itself. The condition (iii) or (iii) means that two submodules $`^{(l,k)}`$ and $`^{(l^{},k^{})}`$ with $`ll^{}`$ are not $`𝒳`$-isomorphic. To show it, suppose that $`^{(l,k)}`$ and $`^{(l^{},k^{})}`$ are $`𝒳`$-isomorphic, namely, there exists a linear invertible map $`\mathrm{\Lambda }:^{(l,k)}^{(l^{},k^{})}`$ satisfying $`\mathrm{\Lambda }A|x=A\mathrm{\Lambda }|x`$ for any $`A𝒳`$ and for any $`|x^{(l,k)}`$. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}`$ is written as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}=\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}|a_k^{}^{(l^{})}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}a_k|`$, where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ is a nonzero operator from $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ to $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\rho _s=\rho _s\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ for any $`sS`$, we have

$$q_k^{(l)}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}p^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=q_k^{}^{(l^{})}p^{(s,l^{})}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l^{})}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}.$$
(108)
Lemma 6 implies that this happens only when $`l=l^{}`$.

While $`^{(l,k)}`$ and $`^{(l^{},k^{})}`$ are not $`𝒳`$-isomorphic when $`ll^{}`$, $`^{(l,k)}`$ and $`^{(l,k^{})}`$ are $`𝒳`$-isomorphic only when $`q_k^{(l)}=q_k^{}^{(l)}`$, and not $`𝒳`$-isomorphic when $`q_k^{(l)}q_k^{}^{(l)}`$. It may be convenient if we can construct an algebra $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$ such that $`^{(l,k)}`$ and $`^{(l^{},k^{})}`$ are $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphic iff $`l=l^{}`$. We will show that such an algebra can be constructed by ‘normalizing’ $`\{\rho _s\}`$ relative to $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}`$. First, take a decomposition of $`_\mathrm{A}`$ into simple $`𝒳`$-submodules, $`_\mathrm{A}=_m(_i_{mi})`$, where $`_{mi}`$ and $`_{m^{}i^{}}`$ are $`𝒳`$-isomorphic iff $`m=m^{}`$. Let $`P_{mi}`$ be the projection onto $`_{mi}`$, and $`P_m_iP_{mi}`$. Then, define $`\stackrel{~}{\rho }_s`$ as

$$\stackrel{~}{\rho }_s=\underset{m,i}{}\rho _sP_{mi}[\mathrm{Tr}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}}P_{mi})]^1=\underset{m}{}[\mathrm{Tr}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}}P_{m1})]^1\rho _sP_m$$
(109)
where we have used the fact that $`\mathrm{Tr}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}}P_{mi})`$ is independent of $`i`$ since $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}𝒳`$. Let $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$ be the algebra over $`C`$ generated by the set of operators $`\{\stackrel{~}{\rho }_s\}_{sS}`$. This definition is independent of the choice of the decomposition $`_\mathrm{A}=_m(_i_{mi})`$. To prove it, take another decomposition $`_\mathrm{A}=_m(_i_{mi}^{})`$ and define $`P_{mi}^{}`$ and $`P_m^{}`$ in the same way as before. The number of submodules are the same in the two decompositions, and we can make $`_{mi}`$ and $`_{mi}^{}`$ be $`𝒳`$-isomorphic by appropriately arranging the order of summation (Jordan-Hölder theorem). Let $`V_{mi}:_{mi}_{mi}^{}`$ be a $`𝒳`$-isomorphism. Then, $`P_{m^{}j}V_{mi}`$ is a $`𝒳`$-homomorphism from $`_{mi}`$ to $`_{m^{}j}`$ and hence $`P_{m^{}j}V_{mi}=0`$ if $`mm^{}`$ (Schur’s lemma). This implies that $`_{mi}^{}`$ is a subspace of $`_i_{mi}`$. We thus have $`P_m^{}P_m=P_m^{}`$, and similarly, $`P_m^{}P_m=P_m`$, hence $`P_m=P_m^{}`$. Since $`_{m1}`$ and $`_{m1}^{}`$ are $`𝒳`$-isomorphic, $`\mathrm{Tr}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}}P_{m1})=\mathrm{Tr}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}}P_{m1}^{})`$. The algebra $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$ and $`\{\stackrel{~}{\rho }_s\}`$ are thus uniquely defined by Eq. (109) when $`\{\rho _s\}`$ and $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}`$ are given.

Since $`_\mathrm{A}=_l(_k^{(l,k)})`$ is also a decomposition of $`_\mathrm{A}`$ into simple $`𝒳`$-submodules, we can calculate $`\stackrel{~}{\rho }_s`$ as follows. The form (99) of $`\rho _s`$ assures that $`\rho _{\mathrm{all}}`$ is written as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }\rho _{\mathrm{all}}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}=\underset{l}{}p_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(\mathrm{all},l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)},$$
(110)
where $`\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(\mathrm{all},l)}`$ are normalized density operators acting on $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. Eq. (6) assures that $`p_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l)}>0`$. If we write the projection onto $`^{(l,k)}`$ as $`P^{(l,k)}`$, we have $`\mathrm{Tr}(\rho _{\mathrm{all}}P^{(l,k)})=p_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l)}q_k^{(l)}`$. Then we obtain

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }\stackrel{~}{\rho }_s\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}=\underset{l}{}\frac{p^{(s,l)}}{p_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l)}}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}.$$
(111)
It is now obvious that $`^{(l,k)}`$ and $`^{(l^{},k^{})}`$ is $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphic when $`l=l^{}`$. It is also easy to show that they are not $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphic when $`ll^{}`$, using a similar argument as above (Eq. (108) changes to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}(p^{(s,l)}/p_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l)})\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}=(p^{(s,l^{})}/p_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l^{})})\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l^{})}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ in this case).

Using the property of the algebra $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$, we can prove the following lemma

###### Lemma 7

The maximal structure is unique.

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be an isomorphism corresponding to a maximal structure $`D`$, and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}:_\mathrm{A}_l\overline{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\overline{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be an isomorphism corresponding to a maximal structure $`\overline{D}`$. Take a basis $`\{|b_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\}`$ for $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, and $`\{|\overline{b}_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\}`$ for $`\overline{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. Let $`^{(l,k)}`$ be the image of $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|b_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}`$, and $`\overline{}^{(l,k)}`$ be the image of $`\overline{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|\overline{b}_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ by $`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}^{}`$. By appropriately choosing the order of the index $`l`$, we can make $`\mathrm{dim}\overline{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}=\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, and $`^{(l,k)}`$ be $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphic to $`\overline{}^{(l,k^{})}`$ if and only if $`l=l^{}`$ (Jordan-Hölder theorem). Through the isomorphisms $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}`$, $`_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ and $`_l\overline{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\overline{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ can be regarded as $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-modules. Two $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-submodules $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|b_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ and $`\overline{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}|\overline{b}_k^{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}`$ are $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphic if and only if $`l=l^{}`$. Since $`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}`$ is a unitary $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphism, it is a direct sum of unitary $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphisms $`V^{(l)}:_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\overline{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\overline{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ (Schur’s lemma). Note that $`V^{(l)}(=(V^{(l)})^1)`$ is also a $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphism. Let $`P_k^{(l)}`$ be the projection onto $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|b_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, and $`\overline{P}_k^{(l)}`$ be the projection onto $`\overline{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|\overline{b}_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. Without loss of generality, we assume that $`\overline{P}_1^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_1^{(l)}0`$. Since $`\overline{P}_1^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_1^{(l)}`$ and $`(\overline{P}_1^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_1^{(l)})^{}`$ are $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-homomorphisms, $`(\overline{P}_1^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_1^{(l)})^{}(\overline{P}_1^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_1^{(l)})=(c_{11})^2P_1^{(l)}`$ with $`c_{11}>0`$ (Schur’s lemma) and hence $`\overline{P}_1^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_1^{(l)}=c_{11}V_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|\overline{b}_1_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}b_1|`$, where $`V_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ is a unitary map from $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ to $`\overline{}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. Since $`\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|b_1_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}b_k|`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{𝟏}}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|\overline{b}_k^{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\overline{b}_k|`$ are $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphisms, $`V_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|\overline{b}_k^{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}b_k|`$ is also a $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-isomorphism for any $`k`$ and $`k^{}`$. Then, from Schur’s Lemma, $`(V_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|\overline{b}_k^{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}b_k|)^{}\overline{P}_k^{}^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_k^{(l)}=c_{k^{}k}P_k^{(l)}`$ and we obtain $`\overline{P}_k^{}^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_k^{(l)}=c_{k^{}k}V_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}|\overline{b}_k^{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}b_k|`$. We thus obtain

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}=\underset{l}{}V^{(l)}=\underset{l}{}\underset{k,k^{}}{}\overline{P}_k^{}^{(l)}V^{(l)}P_k^{(l)}=\underset{l}{}V_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}V_\mathrm{K}^{(l)},$$
(112)
where $`V_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}:_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\overline{}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ is unitary since $`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}`$ and $`V_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ are unitary. This means that the two structures, $`D`$ and $`\overline{D}`$, are equivalent \[see Eq.(46)\], and the lemma is proved.

Let us write this maximal structure as $`D_{\mathrm{max}}(\{\rho _s\})`$, which is uniquely determined when $`\{\rho _s\}`$ is given. Lemma 5 and Lemma 7 mean that the procedure described in Sec. V always yields a unique maximal structure. This also means that if a structure is found to be maximal, it must satisfy the properties of $`D_{\mathrm{fin}}`$ derived in Sec. V. It will be convenient to state this in the form of a theorem:

###### Theorem 3

Let $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$ be a set of density operators acting on $`_\mathrm{A}^{}`$. Suppose that the dimension of $`_\mathrm{A}_{sS}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)`$ is finite. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be a unitary isomorphism that corresponds to a maximal structure $`D_{\mathrm{max}}(\{\rho _s\}_{sS})`$. Then, any unitary operator $`U`$ acting on $`_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$ that satisfies $`𝒯_U(\rho _s)=\rho _s`$ for any $`sS`$ is expressed in the following form under the isomorphism $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$,

$$U(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{A}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}),$$
(113)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$ are unitary operators acting on the combined space $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_\mathrm{E}`$.

Finally, let us consider the situation in which system A is made up of subsystems such that $`_\mathrm{A}=_{\mathrm{A1}}_{\mathrm{A2}}\mathrm{}`$, and the preparation of the initial state of system A is independently done for each subsystem $`_{\mathrm{A}i}`$. In this case, the maximal structure for $`_\mathrm{A}`$ is simply given by the ‘direct product’ of the maximal structures for each subsystem, as shown by the following theorem.

###### Theorem 4

Let $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS_1}`$ be density operators acting on $`_{\mathrm{A1}}`$, and $`\{\sigma _s\}_{sS_2}`$ be density operators acting on $`_{\mathrm{A2}}`$. Suppose that the dimensions of $`_{\mathrm{A1}}_{sS_1}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)`$ and $`_{\mathrm{A2}}_{sS_2}\mathrm{Supp}(\sigma _s)`$ is finite. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1:_{\mathrm{A1}}_{l_1}_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(l_1)}_{\mathrm{K1}}^{(l_1)}`$ be a unitary isomorphism that corresponds to a maximal structure $`D_{\mathrm{max}}(\{\rho _s\}_{sS_1})`$, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2:_{\mathrm{A2}}_{l_2}_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2)}_{\mathrm{K2}}^{(l_2)}`$ be a unitary isomorphism that corresponds to a maximal structure $`D_{\mathrm{max}}(\{\sigma _s\}_{sS_2})`$. Define $`_\mathrm{A}_{\mathrm{A1}}_{\mathrm{A2}}`$, $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(l_1)}_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2)}`$, and $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_{\mathrm{K1}}^{(l_1)}_{\mathrm{K2}}^{(l_2)}`$, where $`l`$ represents the double index $`\{l_1,l_2\}`$. Then, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ corresponds to the maximal structure $`D_{\mathrm{max}}(\{\rho _s\sigma _t\}_{sS_1,tS_2})`$.

This theorem implies that the collective operation to independently prepared systems has the same power as individual operations. For the proof, we will show that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ satisfies the three conditions of Definition 1. From $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\rho _s\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{}=_{l_1}p^{(s,l)}\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,l_1)}\rho _{\mathrm{K1}}^{(l_1)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\sigma _t\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{}=_{l_2}q^{(t,l_2)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(t,l_2)}\sigma _{\mathrm{K2}}^{(l_2)}`$, we have

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }\rho _s\sigma _t\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}=\underset{l_1,l_2}{}p^{(s,l_1)}q^{(t,l_2)}(\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,l_1)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(t,l_2)})(\rho _{\mathrm{K1}}^{(l_1)}\sigma _{\mathrm{K2}}^{(l_2)}),$$
(114)
which means $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ satisfies the condition (i) of Definition 1. Next, construct a density operator $`\sigma _{\mathrm{all}}`$ by a linear combination of the states $`\{\sigma _t\}_{tS_2}`$, such that $`\mathrm{Supp}(\sigma _{\mathrm{all}})=_{\mathrm{A2}}`$ (see Sec. II). Then, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{all}}`$ is written as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\sigma _{\mathrm{all}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{}=_{l_2}q_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l_2)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(\mathrm{all},l_2)}\sigma _{\mathrm{K2}}^{(l_2)}`$, where $`q_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l_2)}>0`$ \[see Eq. (110)\]. Take a basis $`\{|k^{(l_2)}\}`$ of $`_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2)}`$ that diagonalizes $`\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(\mathrm{all},l_2)}`$, namely, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(\mathrm{all},l_2)}|k^{(l_2)}=c_k^{(l_2)}|k^{(l_2)}`$ with $`c_k^{(l_2)}>0`$. Suppose that for a value of $`l=\{l_1,l_2\}`$, a projection operator $`P:_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ satisfies $`Pp^{(s,l_1)}q^{(t,l_2)}(\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,l_1)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(t,l_2)})=p^{(s,l_1)}q^{(t,l_2)}(\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,l_1)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(t,l_2)})P`$ for all $`s`$ and $`t`$. Then, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(\mathrm{all},l_2)}`$ also satisfies

$$P(p^{(s,l_1)}\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,l_1)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(\mathrm{all},l_2)})=(p^{(s,l_1)}\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,l_1)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(\mathrm{all},l_2)})P$$
(115)
for all $`s`$. $`P`$ can generally be written as $`P=_{kk^{}}A_{k^{}k}|k^{}^{(l_2)}k|`$, where $`A_{k^{}k}`$ are operators acting on $`_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(l_1)}`$. Substituting it into Eq. (115), we have $`A_{k^{}k}p^{(s,l_1)}\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,l_1)}=\beta p^{(s,l_1)}\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,l_1)}A_{k^{}k}`$ for all $`s`$, where $`\beta =c_k^{}^{(l_2)}/c_k^{(l_2)}`$, and hence $`A_{k^{}k}=\alpha _{k^{}k}\mathrm{𝟏}_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(l_1)}`$ (Lemma 6). $`P`$ is thus written as $`P=\mathrm{𝟏}_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(l_1)}B_{\mathrm{J2}}`$, where $`B_{\mathrm{J2}}`$ is an operator on $`_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2)}`$. A similar argument with $`_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(l_1)}`$ and $`_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2)}`$ interchanged leads to the form $`P=B_{\mathrm{J1}}\mathrm{𝟏}_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2)}`$, where $`B_{\mathrm{J1}}`$ is an operator on $`_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(l_1)}`$. Noting that $`P`$ is a projector, we conclude that $`P=\mathrm{𝟏}_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(l_1)}\mathrm{𝟏}_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2)}`$ or $`P=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, which means $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ satisfies the condition (ii) of Definition 1. Finally, suppose that, without loss of generality, an operator $`\mathrm{\Lambda }:_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(1)}_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2)}_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(2)}_{\mathrm{J2}}^{(l_2^{})}`$ satisfies $`p^{(s,1)}q^{(t,l_2)}\mathrm{\Lambda }(\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,1)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(t,l_2)})=p^{(s,2)}q^{(t,l_2^{})}(\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,2)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(t,l_2^{})})\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ for all $`s`$ and $`t`$. Then we have

$$p^{(s,1)}q_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l_2)}\mathrm{\Lambda }(\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,1)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(\mathrm{all},l_2)})=p^{(s,2)}q_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l_2^{})}(\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,2)}\sigma _{\mathrm{J2}}^{(\mathrm{all},l_2^{})})\mathrm{\Lambda }$$
(116)
for all $`s`$. $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ can generally be written as $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=_{kk^{}}A_{k^{}k}|k^{}^{(l_2^{})}^{(l_2)}k|`$, where $`A_{k^{}k}`$ are operators from $`_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(1)}`$ to $`_{\mathrm{J1}}^{(2)}`$. Substituting it into Eq. (116), we have $`A_{k^{}k}p^{(s,1)}\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,1)}=\alpha p^{(s,2)}\rho _{\mathrm{J1}}^{(s,2)}A_{k^{}k}`$ for all $`s`$, where $`\alpha =q_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l_2^{})}c_k^{}^{(l_2^{})}/(q_{\mathrm{all}}^{(l_2)}c_k^{(l_2)})>0`$. From Lemma 6, we have $`A_{k^{}k}=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and hence $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{𝟎}`$, which means $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ satisfies the condition (iii) of Definition 1.

To summarize this section, we introduced a structure called ‘maximal’, that is uniquely defined when $`\{\rho _s\}`$ is given. A set of conditions (see Definition 1) was given to check whether a given structure is maximal or not. Given a maximal structure, requirement for the operations to preserve $`\{\rho _s\}`$ is stated in a simple manner. The procedure described in Sec. V gives a way to find a maximal structure in finite steps. Alternatively, a maximal structure is obtained by constructing the algebra $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$ and by decomposing $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-module $`_\mathrm{A}`$ into simple $`\stackrel{~}{𝒳}`$-submodules, just like in finding irreducible representations for a group.

## VII Faithful transfer of quantum states

In the problem considered so far, the initial state of system A and the final state of the same physical system A are required to be identical. In the problems concerning with communication, we often encounter a slightly different situation, in which the initial state of system A (held by the sender) and the final state of another physical system B (held by the receiver) are required to be identical. Here we will make a remark that this problem of faithful transfer of quantum states is essentially the same as the problem considered in the preceding sections. The equivalence may be self-evident when the dimension of system A and that of system B are the same, if we note that we can freely transfer the state from system A to system B or vice versa. When the dimensions of the two systems are different, there is a subtlety in this transfer and it will be worth while providing a detailed argument here. The argument may also help clarifying the notations used in Sec. VIII, which discusses examples of communication problems.

Let $`_\mathrm{A}^{}`$ and $`_\mathrm{B}^{}`$ be the Hilbert spaces for system A and B, respectively, and $`_\mathrm{E}`$ be the Hilbert space for an auxiliary system E. Initially, system A is secretly prepared in a state $`\rho _s(sS)`$. Systems B and E are prepared in a standard state $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{B}|u_\mathrm{B}u|`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}|u_\mathrm{E}u|`$, respectively. In order to define the faithful transfer, we should assume a correspondence between the two physical systems A and B beforehand. This correspondence is given by a unitary map (isomorphism) $`W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}:_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}`$, where $`_\mathrm{B}`$ is a subspace of $`_\mathrm{B}^{}`$ with the same dimension as $`_\mathrm{A}_{sS}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)`$. Any physical operation of the transfer can be described by a unitary operation $`U_{\mathrm{ABE}}`$ acting on $`_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. Let $`\sigma _s`$ be the reduced state of system $`B`$ after the operation of $`U_{\mathrm{ABE}}`$. The requirement for the faithful transfer of $`\{\rho _s\}`$ is that the relation $`\sigma _s=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}`$ should hold for any $`sS`$. As before, the condition for this requirement will be given as a requirement for the isometry $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}:_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{B}|u_\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$, which is a restriction of $`U_{\mathrm{ABE}}`$. The condition $`\sigma _s=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}`$ is explicitly written as

$$\mathrm{Tr}_{\mathrm{AE}}[\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}(\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}^{}]=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}.$$
(117)
In this problem, there is no requirement for the final state of system A, and we can make it in an arbitrary state by applying a unitary operation on systems A and E. We can thus impose an additional requirement that the final state of system A should be a standard state $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{A}u|`$, without loss of generality. We thus assume that the image of $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}`$ is contained in $`|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. Let us define $`V_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}|u_\mathrm{A}(W_{B:A})_\mathrm{B}u|`$, which is a unitary map from $`_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{B}`$ to $`|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}`$. Since the operator $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}(V_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})`$ is an isometry from $`|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$, it can be written as

$$\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}(V_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})=\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{A}\overline{U}_{\mathrm{BE}},$$
(118)
where $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{BE}}`$ is an isometry from $`_\mathrm{B}|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. Note that the relation

$$\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{B}=V_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}(\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{A}W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{})V_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}$$
(119)
holds for any $`\rho _s`$. Substituting this into Eq. (117) and using Eq. (118), we have

$$\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{E}[\overline{U}_{\mathrm{BE}}(W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})\overline{U}_{\mathrm{BE}}^{}]=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}.$$
(120)
This means that $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{BE}}`$ preserves the set of states $`\{W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}\}`$, and the main result of Sec. V or Theorem 3 can be applied. Noting that the isomorphic relation is defined between $`_\mathrm{A}`$ and $`_\mathrm{B}`$, we can write the result as

$$\overline{U}_{\mathrm{BE}}=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\left(\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}\right)W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}.$$
(121)
Combined with Eq. (118), we arrived at the following theorem.

###### Theorem 5

Let $`\{\rho _s\}_{sS}`$ be a set of density operators acting on $`_\mathrm{A}^{}`$. Suppose that the dimension of $`_\mathrm{A}_{sS}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)`$ is finite. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_\mathrm{A}_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ be a unitary isomorphism that corresponds to a maximal structure $`D_{\mathrm{max}}(\{\rho _s\}_{sS})`$. Let $`W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}:_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}`$ be a unitary map, where $`_\mathrm{B}`$ is a subspace of $`_\mathrm{B}^{}`$. Then, any isometry $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}:_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{B}|u_\mathrm{E}|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$ that satisfies

$$\mathrm{Tr}_{\mathrm{AE}}[\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}(\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}^{}]=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}$$
(122)
for any $`sS`$ is expressed in the following form under the isomorphism $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$,

$$\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABE}}=|u_\mathrm{A}(W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}})(\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)})_\mathrm{B}u|,$$
(123)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$ are isometries from $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_\mathrm{E}`$.

## VIII Application to various problems

In this section, we apply the derived properties of the operations preserving a set of states to various problems such as cloning, cryptography, and data compression.

### A Broadcasting of mixed states

No-broadcasting condition for mixed states, which was derived in , can easily be rederived. The broadcasting is the task of preparing the marginal state of a subsystem of E in $`\rho _s`$, and leaving the reduced state of the system A undisturbed as in $`\rho _s`$. Since the operations that do not disturb $`\{\rho _s\}`$ are insensitive to the state changes in the subspaces $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, complete broadcasting is possible only when the dimensions of the subspaces $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ are all unity, or equivalently, when $`\{\rho _s\}`$ can be simultaneously diagonalized.

In addition to rederiving this criteria, the derived principle here can also determine the feasibility of various correlations between the two broadcast systems, which was raised as an open question in . Let us consider the broadcasting of $`\{\rho _s\}`$ in system A into the two systems B and C. Let $`H_\mathrm{X}^{}(\mathrm{X}=\mathrm{A},\mathrm{B},\mathrm{C})`$ be the Hilbert space for system X, and suppose that the dimension of $`_\mathrm{A}_{sS}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)`$ is finite. Take a subspace $`H_\mathrm{X}H_\mathrm{X}^{}(\mathrm{X}=\mathrm{B},\mathrm{C})`$ with the same size as $`_\mathrm{A}`$, and let $`W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}:_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}`$ and $`W_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}:_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{C}`$ be unitary maps defining the relation among the three systems. The process of broadcasting is defined as

$$\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{C}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{A}\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)}$$
(124)
with

$$\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{C}(\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)})=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{},\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{B}(\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)})=W_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}^{},$$
(125)
where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{X}|u_\mathrm{X}u|(\mathrm{X}=\mathrm{A},\mathrm{B},\mathrm{C})`$ are standard states. When the broadcasting is possible, the supporting space $`_\mathrm{A}`$ can be decomposed as $`_\mathrm{A}=_l_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, since $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ is one-dimensional and can thus be neglected. Then, by taking appropriate bases $`\{|a_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\}`$ for $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, we can write $`\rho _s=_lp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}=_l_kp^{(s,l)}q_k^{(l)}|a_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}a_k|`$. Let us take bases for $`_\mathrm{B}`$ and $`_\mathrm{C}`$ by $`|a_k_\mathrm{B}^{(l)}W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}|a_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ and $`|a_k_\mathrm{C}^{(l)}W_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}|a_k_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. The broadcast state $`\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)}`$ satisfying Eq. (125) is not unique and various types of correlations between systems B and C are conceivable. For example, a state with no correlation

$$\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)}=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{}W_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _sW_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}^{},$$
(126)
a state with classical correlations

$$\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)}=\underset{l}{}\underset{k}{}p^{(s,l)}q_k^{(l)}|a_k_\mathrm{B}^{(l)}a_k||a_k_\mathrm{C}^{(l)}a_k|,$$
(127)
and a state with quantum correlations $`\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)}=|\chi ^{(s)}\chi ^{(s)}|`$ with

$$|\chi ^{(s)}=\underset{l}{}\underset{k}{}\mathrm{exp}(i\theta _{l,k})\sqrt{p^{(s,l)}q_k^{(l)}}|a_k_\mathrm{B}^{(l)}|a_k_\mathrm{C}^{(l)}$$
(128)
all satisfies Eq. (125). The question here is, among these and other conceivable correlations, what are feasible by a physical process Eq. (124). To answer this problem, let us start by noting that any physical process acting on $`\{\rho _s\}`$ corresponds to an isometry $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}:_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{B}|u_\mathrm{C}|u_\mathrm{E}|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{C}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$ with an auxiliary system E. Along with the decomposition $`_\mathrm{A}=_l_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, we can decompose $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}`$ as $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}=_l\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}`$ by isometries $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}:_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}|u_\mathrm{B}|u_\mathrm{C}|u_\mathrm{E}|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{C}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. Since $`\rho _s`$ is exactly transferred from A to B, we have, from Theorem 5,

$$\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}=|u_\mathrm{A}(W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}})(\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KCE}}^{(l)})_\mathrm{B}u|,$$
(129)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KCE}}^{(l)}`$ are isometries from $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}|u_\mathrm{C}|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_\mathrm{C}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. Noting that we are omitting $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, we have

$$\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}=|u_\mathrm{A}(W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}})(U_{\mathrm{KCE}}^{(l)})_\mathrm{B}u|.$$
(130)
This means that the image of $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}`$ is contained in $`|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}^{(l)}_\mathrm{C}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$, where $`_\mathrm{B}^{(l)}`$ is the image of $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ by $`W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}`$. Similarly, since $`\rho _s`$ is exactly transferred from A to C, we have another expression,

$$\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}=|u_\mathrm{A}(W_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}})(U_{\mathrm{KBE}}^{(l)})_\mathrm{C}u|,$$
(131)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KBE}}^{(l)}`$ are isometries from $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}|u_\mathrm{B}|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_\mathrm{B}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$. By this expression, the image of $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}`$ is further restricted to $`|u_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{B}^{(l)}_\mathrm{C}^{(l)}_\mathrm{E}`$, where $`_\mathrm{C}^{(l)}`$ is the image of $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ by $`W_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}`$. The operation $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}`$ thus only connects the subspaces labeled by the same value of index $`l`$. The broadcast state $`\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)}`$, which is given by

$$\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)}=\mathrm{Tr}_{\mathrm{AE}}[\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}(\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{C}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{}],$$
(132)
should therefore be written as

$$\chi _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(s)}=\underset{l}{}p^{(s,l)}\zeta _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(l)}$$
(133)
where $`\zeta _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(l)}`$ is a density operator acting on $`_\mathrm{B}^{(l)}_\mathrm{C}^{(l)}`$, given by

$$\zeta _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(l)}\mathrm{Tr}_{\mathrm{AE}}[\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}(\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{C}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}].$$
(134)
The condition (125) for broadcasting is satisfied iff

$$\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{C}(\zeta _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(l)})=W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}W_{\mathrm{B}:\mathrm{A}}^{},\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{B}(\zeta _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(l)})=W_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}W_{\mathrm{C}:\mathrm{A}}^{}$$
(135)
holds for all $`l`$. Since $`\zeta _{\mathrm{BC}}^{(l)}`$ is independent of $`s`$, it can be any state by choosing $`\overline{U}_{\mathrm{ABCE}}^{(l)}`$ appropriately. This means that any types of correlations are feasible in each subspace $`_\mathrm{B}^{(l)}_\mathrm{C}^{(l)}`$, ranging from quantum correlation (entanglement) to no correlation. On the other hand, Eq. (133) means that for the index $`l`$, a complete classical correlation should always be established between the broadcast systems.

One of the interesting consequences from the above general result is that the condition for the feasibility of the broadcast state with no correlation \[Eq.(126)\] and that of broadcast states with full quantum correlation \[Eq.(128)\] are the same. For both cases, the condition is that any $`\rho _s`$ should be contained in one of the subspaces $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, or equivalently, any pair of states from $`\{\rho _s\}`$ must be identical or orthogonal.

### B Imprinting of mixed states

Another open question was the condition for the feasibility of the imprinting process. The no-imprinting condition is the requirement for $`\{\rho _s\}`$ such that any attempt to read out the information on $`s`$ should lead to some changes in the state of system A from the initial state. More formally, under the notations used here, it is the condition for $`\{\rho _s\}`$ such that for any unitary operator $`U`$ acting on $`_\mathrm{A}^{}_\mathrm{E}`$ satisfying $`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{E}[U(\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U^{}]=\rho _s`$, the reduced state of system E, $`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[U(\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U^{}]`$, should be independent of $`s`$.

This condition is obvious now. According to the present result, such an operation $`U`$ is insensitive to the contents of $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, and $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ holds no information on $`s`$. On the other hand, the index $`l`$ can be read out freely without disturbing $`\{\rho _s\}`$. Hence the condition is stated as $`p^{(s,l)}=p^{(s^{},l)}`$ for all $`\{s,s^{},l\}`$, namely, the probability distribution for the index $`l`$ is identical for all $`s`$. In other words, this is the requirement that if $`\{\rho _s\}`$ are written as matrices in the maximally simultaneously block-diagonalized form, the traces for each block are the same for all $`s`$.

A generalized version of this theorem, where the set of states $`\{\sigma _s^{}\}_{s^{}S^{}}`$ to be distinguished is different from the set of states $`\{\rho _s\}`$ to be preserved, can also be derived from the above results. A little care should be taken for the fact that the support of all states, defined as $`\overline{}_\mathrm{A}=[_{sS}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)][_{s^{}S^{}}\mathrm{Supp}(\sigma _s^{})]`$, may generally be larger than $`_\mathrm{A}=_{sS}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)`$. Let us write $`\overline{}_\mathrm{A}=_\mathrm{A}_0`$. Consider the set of all isometries $`U:\overline{}_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{E}\overline{}_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{E}`$ that preserve $`\{\rho _s\}`$, namely, $`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{E}[U(\rho _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U^{}]=\rho _s`$. What we ask here is the condition for $`\{\sigma _s^{}\}_{s^{}S^{}}`$ such that $`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[U(\sigma _s^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U^{}]`$ is independent of $`s^{}S^{}`$ under any such $`U`$. We first derive a sufficient condition. According to Theorem 3, a decomposition $`_\mathrm{A}=_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ is determined from $`\{\rho _s\}`$, and $`U`$ is written as

$$U=U_{0\mathrm{E}}\left(\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}\right),$$
(136)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$ are isometries from $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_\mathrm{E}`$, and $`U_{0\mathrm{E}}`$ is an isometry from $`_0|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`\overline{}_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{E}`$. Note that the image of $`U_{0\mathrm{E}}`$ is not necessarily confined in $`_0_\mathrm{E}`$. Then we can write

$`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[U(\sigma _s^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U^{}]=\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[U_{0\mathrm{E}}(\sigma _s^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U_{0\mathrm{E}}^{}]`$ (137)
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}(\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[U_{0\mathrm{E}}(\sigma _s^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)})^{}]`$ (138)
$`+\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)})(\sigma _s^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U_{0\mathrm{E}}^{}]`$ (139)
$`+\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)})(\sigma _s^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)})^{}]).`$ (140)
Let $`P_0`$, $`P_\mathrm{A}`$, and $`P_\mathrm{A}^{(l)}`$ be the projection operators onto $`_0`$, $`_\mathrm{A}`$, and $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, respectively. Equation (140) means that the state left in system E depends only on the following parts of the initial state $`\sigma _s^{}`$, defined as

$`\sigma _s^{}^{(00)}`$ $``$ $`P_0\sigma _s^{}P_0,`$ (141)
$`\sigma _s^{}^{(0\mathrm{A})}`$ $``$ $`P_0\sigma _s^{}P_\mathrm{A},\sigma _s^{}^{(\mathrm{A0})}P_\mathrm{A}\sigma _s^{}P_0,`$ (142)
$`\sigma _s^{}^{(l)}`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}(P_\mathrm{A}^{(l)}\sigma _s^{}P_\mathrm{A}^{(l)}),`$ (143)
and Eq. (140) becomes

$`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[U(\sigma _s^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U^{}]=\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[U_{0\mathrm{E}}(\sigma _s^{}^{(00)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U_{0\mathrm{E}}^{}]`$ (144)
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}(\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[U_{0\mathrm{E}}(\sigma _s^{}^{(0\mathrm{A})}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)})^{}]`$ (145)
$`+\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)})(\sigma _s^{}^{(\mathrm{A0})}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})U_{0\mathrm{E}}^{}]`$ (146)
$`+\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}[U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}(\sigma _s^{}^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})(U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)})^{}]).`$ (147)
Here $`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ and $`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ are the partial trace over $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$ and $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, respectively. Hence a sufficient condition for the state left in system E to have no dependence on $`s^{}`$ is that the operators defined in Eq. (143) are independent of $`s^{}`$.

To show that this condition is also necessary, we will consider a particular measurement strategy. Let $`l^{}`$ be one of the possible values of the index $`l`$. The first step of the strategy is to conduct an ideal projection measurement to measure whether the state is in the subspace $`_0_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}`$ or not. It is obvious that this measurement does not disturb $`\{\rho _s\}`$. Let $`p(l^{},s^{})`$ be the probability of obtaining the positive outcome when the initial state was $`\sigma _s^{}`$. Suppose that the result of the measurement was positive. Prepare auxiliary physical systems J and K with Hilbert spaces $`_\mathrm{J}`$ and $`_\mathrm{K}=_{\mathrm{K0}}_{\mathrm{K1}}`$, respectively, where $`\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{J}=\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$, $`\mathrm{dim}_{\mathrm{K1}}=\mathrm{dim}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}`$, and $`\mathrm{dim}_{\mathrm{K0}}=\mathrm{dim}_0`$. Take unitary maps $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{J}:_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}_\mathrm{J}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}:_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}_{\mathrm{K1}}`$, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0:_0_{\mathrm{K0}}`$. Take an arbitrary state $`|x_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}`$, and let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0^{}:_0(\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{J}|x)_{\mathrm{K0}}`$ be the unitary map naturally determined from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$. Then, we can construct an isometry $`\mathrm{\Gamma }:_0_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}_\mathrm{J}_\mathrm{K}`$ by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }_0^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{J}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}`$. The second step is to transfer the post-measurement state of system A, which is projected in $`_0_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}`$, to the combined system of J and K according to the isometry $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Note that if the initial state was $`\rho _s`$, the state of $`_\mathrm{J}_\mathrm{K}`$ after the second step is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{J}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l^{})}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{J}^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}^{}`$. The third step is to conduct arbitrary measurement on system K, and to leave system K in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}^{}`$, which is independent of the initial state. At the final step, the state of $`_\mathrm{J}_\mathrm{K}`$, which should be contained in the image of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, is transferred back to $`_0_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})}`$. It is easy to see that the whole process does not disturb $`\{\rho _s\}`$. When the initial state was $`\sigma _s^{}`$, the marginal state of system K after the second step, multiplied by $`p(l^{},s^{})`$, is

$`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{J}[\mathrm{\Gamma }(P_0\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\sigma _s^{}(P_0\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l^{})}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}]`$ (148)
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\sigma _s^{}^{(00)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_0^{}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\sigma _s^{}^{(0\mathrm{A})}(|x\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}^{}`$ (150)
$`+\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}(x|\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{K}^{(l^{})})\sigma _s^{}^{(\mathrm{A0})}\mathrm{\Gamma }_0^{}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}\sigma _s^{}^{(l^{})}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{K}^{},`$
If we require, for this particular strategy, that the statistics of the outcomes of the measurement of the first step and the arbitrary measurement in the third step should be independent of $`s^{}`$, the reduced state in Eq. (150) must be independent of $`s^{}`$. Since the choices of $`l^{}`$ and $`|x`$ were arbitrary, we conclude that it is necessary that $`\sigma _s^{}^{(00)}`$, $`\sigma _s^{}^{(0\mathrm{A})}`$, $`\sigma _s^{}^{(\mathrm{A0})}`$, and $`\sigma _s^{}^{(l)}`$ for any $`l`$ be independent of $`s^{}`$. It is worth emphasizing here that the above result shows that any difference in the off-diagonal part ($`\sigma _s^{}^{(0\mathrm{A})}`$) between $`_0`$ and $`_\mathrm{A}`$ is detectable even under a stringent restriction to the operation to $`_\mathrm{A}`$.

### C Cloning and imprinting of composite systems

Consider the situation in which the system holding an unknown initial state $`\chi _s`$ is composed of two subsystems A and B, and it is allowed to access these subsystems only in sequence, namely, subsystem A must be released before subsystem B is accessed. In order to preserve the states $`\{\chi _s\}`$ in the whole system, the marginal density operator in A, $`\rho _s\text{Tr}_\mathrm{B}(\chi _s)`$, must not be modified when it is released. The present results can thus be applied and restrict the form of the operation when subsystem A is at hand. Let us write this operation by an isometry $`U_{\mathrm{AE}}:_\mathrm{A}|u_\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{E}`$, where $`_\mathrm{A}=_{sS}\mathrm{Supp}(\rho _s)`$, and $`_\mathrm{E}`$ describes an auxiliary system initially prepared in a standard state $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}=|u_\mathrm{E}u|`$. Let $`_\mathrm{B}`$ be the Hilbert space for subsystem B. According to Theorem 3, a decomposition $`_\mathrm{A}=_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ is determined from $`\{\rho _s\}`$, and $`U_{\mathrm{AE}}`$ is written as

$$U_{\mathrm{AE}}=\underset{l}{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)},$$
(151)
where $`U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$ are isometries from $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}|u_\mathrm{E}`$ to $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}_\mathrm{E}`$. Then we can write the marginal state $`\chi _{\mathrm{BE}}^{(s)}`$ of the combined system of E and B after the operation $`U_{\mathrm{AE}}`$ as

$`\chi _{\mathrm{BE}}^{(s)}`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[(U_{\mathrm{AE}}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})(\chi _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})(U_{\mathrm{AE}}^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})]`$ (152)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{A}[(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})(\chi _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})(\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})]`$ (153)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}[(U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})(\chi _s^{(l)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})(U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})].`$ (154)
where

$$\chi _s^{(l)}\mathrm{Tr}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}[(P_\mathrm{A}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})\chi _s(P_\mathrm{A}^{(l)}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})].$$
(155)
This means that if we are to preserve $`\text{Tr}_\mathrm{B}(\chi _s)`$, we can obtain only the part of the correlations between A and B, namely, we can obtain classical correlations related to the index $`l`$ and quantum correlations related to each $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, but cannot obtain quantum correlations related to the index $`l`$ or any correlations related to each $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$. Note that extracting this information to the auxiliary system E may destroy original quantum correlations between A and B.

When $`\{\chi _s\}`$ are all different pure states, the cloning of $`\{\chi _s\}`$ is possible only when $`\{\chi _s\}`$ are all orthogonal. Hence, if the cloning is possible, we should be able to determine $`s`$ completely by conducting a measurement on $`\chi _{\mathrm{BE}}^{(s)}`$, namely, $`\{\chi _{\mathrm{BE}}^{(s)}\}`$ should be all orthogonal. This is possible only when $`\chi _s^{(l)}`$ and $`\chi _s^{}^{(l)}`$ are orthogonal for any $`l`$ and for any $`ss^{}`$. This condition is also sufficient for the cloning to be possible, since under that condition we can determine the value of $`s`$ by accessing B and E without disturbing the whole state $`(U_{\mathrm{AE}}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})(\chi _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E})(U_{\mathrm{AE}}^{}\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{B})`$. At this stage, we know exactly the current pure state of the system ABE, and the marginal state of subsystem A is $`\text{Tr}_\mathrm{B}(\chi _s)`$. Then we can determine a unitary operation over BE that drives the state of ABE back into $`\chi _s\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{E}`$.

When the initial states $`\{\chi _s\}`$ include mixed states, it is not always possible to restore the original quantum correlations between A and B by manipulating system BE only. Also in the problem of imprinting of more than two pure states, the restoration is not always possible because the identifying $`s`$ by accessing system BE is not necessarily possible. The feasibility of this restoration of quantum correlation will be an interesting future problem.

### D Various schemes of quantum key distribution

An attempt was recently made by Mor, to give a unified explanation of why various schemes of quantum key distribution work in the ideal situations, which was based on the no-cloning principle of mixed states. Since we have obtained a general principle including the no-cloning principle, we provide a unified formalism of various schemes for quantum key distribution. The principle here places some restriction on the eavesdropper’s access to the first quantum system A transmitted from the sender to the receiver, if the eavesdropper wants to preserve the state in order to conceal her presence. Then we can find three different ways to conceal the bit value from the eavesdropper, namely, (i) encoding it directly on the inner degree of freedom for $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, (ii) encoding it on the correlation between A and another system B, through the inner degree of freedom for $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, and (iii) encoding it on the quantum correlation between A and B, through the index $`l`$. The original four-state scheme of Bennett and Brassard corresponds to the case (ii), since the bit value is encoded on the correlation between the quantum state of the photon and the information of the basis transmitted later, which corresponds to the system B. The scheme  using two nonorthogonal pure states corresponds to the case (i), and the schemes using three or two entangled states in the composite system correspond to the case (iii).

### E Optimal compression rate of quantum-state signals

Consider a source that produces the ensemble $`=\{p_s,\rho _s\}`$, namely, it emits a system in a quantum state $`\rho _s`$ with probability $`p_s>0`$. One of the fundamental questions in quantum information theory is to identify the optimal compression rate of $``$, namely, to determine how much qubits are needed to compress a sequence of systems independently prepared from this source so that it can be decompressed back with negligible errors in the asymptotic limit of the infinitely long sequence. Noting that the original states $`\rho _s`$ are reproduced after the decompression, the present results can be applied to the whole operation of compression and decompression, and reveals the optimal compression rate in the blind scenario. Using the decomposition $`\rho _s=_lp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, the average density operator $`\rho _sp_s\rho _s`$ is also decomposed as

$$\rho =\underset{l}{}p^{(l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)},$$
(156)
where $`p^{(l)}_sp_sp^{(s,l)}`$ and $`\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(l)}(_sp_sp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)})/p^{(l)}`$. This naturally gives a decomposition of the von Neumann entropy of $`\rho `$, defined as $`S(\rho )\text{Tr}\rho \mathrm{log}_2\rho `$, into the sum of three parts as follows,

$`S(\rho )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}p^{(l)}\left[\mathrm{log}_2p^{(l)}+S(\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(l)})+S(\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)})\right]`$ (157)
$``$ $`I_\mathrm{C}+I_{\mathrm{NC}}+I_\mathrm{R}.`$ (158)
Then, the form $`\rho _s=_lp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ tells us that $``$ can be compressed into $`I_\mathrm{C}+I_{\mathrm{NC}}`$ qubits, and its optimality can be shown from the fact that any compression-decompression scheme must be written in the form $`U_{\mathrm{AE}}=_l\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$ . It was also shown that among $`I_\mathrm{C}+I_{\mathrm{NC}}`$ qubits, $`I_\mathrm{C}`$ qubits can be replaced by the same number of classical bits . A similar argument can also be made to the teleportation of the ensemble $``$, and the optimally required amount of entanglement was shown to be $`I_{\mathrm{NC}}`$ ebits. These results again suggest that the decomposition $`\rho _s=_lp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$ gives a way to classify the degrees of freedom into the three parts, namely, classical, nonclassical, and redundant parts.

Using Theorem 4 derived in Sec. VI, we immediately see that the above information-theoretic functions $`I_\mathrm{C}()`$, $`I_{\mathrm{NC}}()`$, $`I_\mathrm{R}()`$, and hence the various optimal rates, are additive for independent sources. That is to say, if we consider another source $`^{}=\{q_s^{},\sigma _s^{}\}`$ and the combined source $`\stackrel{~}{}=\{p_sq_s^{},\rho _s\sigma _s^{}\}`$, we have $`I_X(\stackrel{~}{})=I_X()+I_X(^{})`$ $`(X=\mathrm{C},\mathrm{NC},\mathrm{R})`$.

## IX Conclusion

In this paper, we have considered a situation which we frequently encounter in dealing with problems in quantum information, namely, given a system secretly prepared in one of the possible states $`\{\rho _s\}`$, conducting a general operation to the system, then leaving the state of the system exactly in the same state as the initially given state. In order to derive a general property of such operations, we noted two basic principles: One is a natural extension of a property of classical signals, which states that in order not to disturb a signal which may be produced by two different probability distributions, we are not allowed to operate on the entire signal space freely, but are forced to operate on two or more signal subspaces independently. The other principle stems genuinely from quantum origin, and it states that if we are to operate on two subspaces independently while preserving a state having a nonzero off-diagonal part with respect to the two subspaces, the operations to the two subspaces must satisfy a similarity defined through the off-diagonal part of the state. The two types of constraints alternately invokes each other, and finally reveals a stringent condition for the operations to preserve $`\{\rho _s\}`$, together with a decomposition of the support space of $`\{\rho _s\}`$, which takes a form $`_\mathrm{A}=_l_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. Under this decomposition, the states $`\{\rho _s\}`$ are written as $`\rho _s=_lp^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{J}^{(s,l)}\rho _\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. If we consider how the information of the state index $`s`$ is encoded on three parts, namely, on index $`l`$, on Hilbert space $`_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}`$, and on Hilbert space $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$, we may regard them as classical, nonclassical (quantum), and redundant parts, respectively, since $`\rho _s`$ has no off-diagonal part with respect to index $`l`$, and no information on $`s`$ is stored on $`_\mathrm{K}^{(l)}`$. Under this decomposition, the main result describing the property of the operations to preserve $`\{\rho _s\}`$ is written as $`U_{\mathrm{AE}}=_l\mathrm{𝟏}_\mathrm{J}^{(l)}U_{\mathrm{KE}}^{(l)}`$, which informally implies that the nonclassical part is untouchable, the classical part is read-only, and the redundant part is open.

The result may be viewed as an unexpectedly straightforward extension of the simplest case of binary string $`s=0,1`$ encoded on two pure states $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$ and $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_1`$. We can distinguish three cases according to the inner product of the two pure states. The encoding will be regarded as ‘classical’ when the two states are orthogonal, ‘nonclassical’ when they are nonorthogonal and nonidentical, and ‘redundant’ when identical. When this situation is extended to allow mixed states and a larger number of states, it has turned out that the three types of the encoding may coexist, but they are still distinct. The inner product for two vectors must be replaced by mathematical concepts describing rather complicated relations among many density operators. In this paper, we have attempted to do this by regarding the Hilbert space as a module over an algebra generate by $`\{\rho _s\}`$ with a proper normalization. Then, the notion of ‘nonorthogonal’ corresponds to irreducibility (being simple) of a submodule, the notion of ‘orthogonal’ corresponds to reducibility into inequivalent simple submodules, and the notion of ‘identical’ corresponds to reducibility into equivalent simple submodules.

The main result was shown to be applicable to various problems of quantum information. The tasks of cloning, broadcasting, imprinting, and eavesdropping in quantum cryptography belong to a class of problems in which extraction of information on the initial state of the system is required without introducing disturbance. The present result can naturally be applied to this class of problems, and helps to derive various conditions on the set of possible initial states for various tasks to be feasible. In addition, the result was also successfully applied to tasks such as quantum data compression and quantum teleportation, in which the extraction of the information on the initial state is not directly required. It was shown (see also ) that the optimal rates of bits and qubits for asymptotically faithful blind compression is simply equal to the Shannon or von Neumann entropy of the classical and nonclassical parts, respectively. This result also justifies the terminology of classical, nonclassical, and redundant parts in operational sense, namely, the classical part can be encoded on bits and sent through a classical channel, but the nonclassical part can be encoded only on qubits and requires shared entanglement to be sent over a classical channel.

## Acknowledgment

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists (Grant No. 12740243) and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (Grant No. 12440111) by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.