Comparison of quantum channels and statistical experiments

Abstract

For a pair of quantum channels with the same input space, we show that the possibility of approximation of one channel by post-processings of the other channel can be characterized by comparing the success probabilities for the two ensembles obtained as outputs for any ensemble on the input space coupled with an ancilla. This provides an operational interpretation to a natural extension of Le Cam's deficiency to quantum channels. In particular, we obtain a version of the randomization criterion for quantum statistical experiments. The proofs are based on some properties of the diamond norm and its dual, which are of independent interest.