Free energy and the relative entropy

Under the assumption of an identity determining the free energy of a state of a statistical mechanical system relative to a given equilibrium state by means of the relative entropy, it is shown: first, that there is in any physically definable convex set of states a unique state of minimum free energy measured relative to a given equilibrium state; second, that if a state has finite free energy relative to an equilibrium state, then the set of its time translates is a weakly relatively compact set; and third, that a unique perturbed equilibrium state exists following a change in Hamiltonian that is bounded below.     

On the relative entropy

ForA any subset of () (the bounded operators on a Hilbert space) containing the unit, and and restrictions of states on () toA, ent _A (|)—the entropy of relative to given the information inA—is defined and given an axiomatic characterisation. It is compared with ent _A ^A (|)—the relative entropy introduced by Umegaki and generalised by various authors—which is defined only forA an algebra. It is proved that ent and ent ^S agree on pairs of normal states on an injective von Neumann algebra. It is also proved that ent always has all the most important properties known for ent ^S : monotonicity, concavity,w* upper semicontinuity, etc.     

Completely positive maps and entropy inequalities

It is proved that the relative entropy for a quantum system is non-increasing under a trace-preserving completely positive map. The proof is based on the strong sub-additivity property of the quantum-mechanical entropy.     

A note on relative entropy

The quantum-mechanical concept of relative entropy is discussed from an information-theoretic point of view. We show that not all definitions found in the recent literature are equally suitable for the purpose of statistical inference by entropy maximization.     

Maximizing relative entropy at given energies

We consider maximization of the relative entropy (with respect to a fixed normal state) in a von Neumann algebra among the states having fixed expectation for finitely many self-adjoint elements.     

Expectations and entropy inequalities for finite quantum systems

We prove that the relative entropy is decreasing under a trace-preserving expectation inB(K ¹), and we show the connection between this theorem and the strong subadditivity of the entropy. It is also proved that a linear, positive, trace-preserving map ofB(K) into itself such that 1 decreases the value of any convex trace function.     

A variational expression for the relative entropy

We prove that for the relative entropy of faithful normal states ? and ω on the von Neumann algebraM the formula $$S(\varphi ,\omega ) = \sup \{ \omega (h) - \log \varphi ^h (I):h = h^* \in M\}$$ holds.