How fast does quantum copying become estimation? A sharp finite-copy law for phase states
Copying an unknown quantum state into many approximate copies is known to become equivalent to estimating it and re-preparing: the best measure-and-prepare copier approaches the best quantum copier as the number of copies grows. We determine how fast. For equatorial qubit states, one input copy and m output copies, judged by the global fidelity, we prove F_EB/F_coh = 1 − 1/√(2m) + O(1/m). For phase states on d levels we prove, with explicit constants, the law 1 − F_EB/F_coh = (d − 1)/√(2m) + O(1/m), confirmed by exact computations up to m = 400; for qubits with T input copies the gap is √2·σ_T/√m, proved with explicit constants for T = 2, 3 (the upper bound conditionally on the optimality of the flat seed, R0(T); the lower bound unconditionally). The measure-and-prepare copier's deficit is the ground-state energy of a harmonic oscillator, one quantum per unknown phase. The exact quantum fidelity has plateaus at m = kd and kd + 1 (m = kd + 1 is the economical point). Numerical results suggest a period-d modulation of the ratio at order 1/m; a proof of its next-order coefficient remains open. This complements the known universality of the cloning fidelity itself, which depends only on the number of free parameters: within the phase-state family, the leading gap coefficient counts the independent phase directions. The classical values rest on the flat-seed theorem of the companion Paper 5, and the several-copy quantum values on the reduced coherent dual of the companion Paper 5. Core lemmas of the qubit proof and its explicit upper-bound constants are machine-checked in Lean 4; the remaining steps are proved on paper and independently refereed.
Authors
- M. Weldon
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2026-11-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23866735
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Type
- preprint