Robustness of Magic and the Directed Geometry of State Conversion

Abstract

In this work, we introduce a state-space distance calibrated by stabilizer states based on the dual structure of the robustness of magic (RoM), and show that RoM is exactly represented as the distance to the free-state set. We then extend this geometry to state conversion by defining the directed conversion deficiency $C_{\mathcal{F}}$ as the distance between a target state and the set of states freely reachable from a given input state. The quantity $C_{\mathcal{F}}$ characterizes free convertibility and is related to the minimum stabilizer quasiprobability weight required to represent the conversion residual through the relation $1+2C_{\mathcal{F}}$. It also contains the conventional magic state resource lower bounds based on RoM and can detect stronger conversion obstructions. For single-qubit systems, we analytically construct a continuous family of mixed states with identical RoM but asymmetric convertibility.

arXiv comment25 pages