The classicality and quantumness of a quantum ensemble

In this Letter, we investigate the classicality and quantumness of a quantum ensemble. We define a quantity called ensemble classicality based on classical cloning strategy (ECCC) to characterize how classical a quantum ensemble is. An ensemble of commuting states has a unit ECCC, while a general ensemble can have a ECCC less than 1. We also study how quantum an ensemble is by defining a related quantity called quantumness. We find that the classicality of an ensemble is closely related to how perfectly the ensemble can be cloned, and that the quantumness of the ensemble used in a quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol is exactly the attainable lower bound of the error rate in the sifted key.

► A quantity is defined to characterize how classical a quantum ensemble is. ► The classicality of an ensemble is closely related to the cloning performance. ► Another quantity is also defined to investigate how quantum an ensemble is. ► This quantity gives the lower bound of the error rate in a QKD protocol.