On a recent conjecture by Z. Van Herstraeten and N.J. Cerf for the quantum Wigner entropy

Abstract

We address a recent conjecture stated by Z. Van Herstraeten and N.J. Cerf. They claim that the Shannon entropy for positive Wigner functions is bounded below by a positive constant, which can be attained only by Gaussian pure states. We introduce an alternative definition of entropy for all absolutely integrable Wigner functions, which is the Shannon entropy for positive Wigner functions. Moreover, we are able to prove, in arbitrary dimension, that this entropy is indeed bounded below by a positive constant, which is not very distant from the constant suggested by Van Herstraeten and Cerf. We also prove an analogous result for another conjecture stated by the same authors for the R\'enyi entropy of positive Wigner functions. As a by-product we prove a new inequality for the radar-ambiguity function (and for the Wigner distribution) which is reminiscent of Lieb's inequalities.