Quantum Interference-Induced Bhattacharyya Distance

Abstract

We propose a quantum distance measure between probability distributions encoded in quantum states based on the fragility of quantum interference under entangling evolution. The Quantum Interference-Induced Bhattacharyya Distance (QIBD) is defined through a single-ancilla interferometric circuit in which an interaction Hamiltonian generates correlation-dependent phases that modulate interference visibility. When the interaction vanishes, QIBD reduces to the classical Bhattacharyya distance; however, for entangling interactions, it cannot be expressed as a function of fidelity alone. Numerical simulations demonstrate that QIBD responds to correlation structure in ways that overlap-based measures do not, suggesting potential utility in contexts where interaction-aligned correlations are physically relevant.