Quantum Optimal Transport and Weak Topologies

Abstract

Several extensions of the classical optimal transport distances to the quantum setting have been proposed. In this paper, we investigate the pseudometrics introduced by Golse, Mouhot and Paul in [Commun Math Phys 343:165-205, 2016] and by Golse and Paul in [Arch Ration Mech Anal 223:57-94, 2017]. These pseudometrics serve as a quantum analogue of the Monge-Kantorovich-Wasserstein distances of order $2$ on the phase space. We prove that they are comparable to negative Sobolev norms up to a small term due to a positive "self-distance" in the semiclassical approximation, which can be bounded above using the Wigner-Yanase skew information. This enables us to improve the known results in the context of the mean-field and semiclassical limits by requiring less regularity on the initial data.