Information-Geometric Analysis of Quantum Collapse Dynamics: From State-Update Geometry to Dynamical Collapse Trajectories
Angelo PlastinoWe develop an information-geometric framework for analyzing quantum state-update processes generated by explicit collapse dynamics. Whereas a purely geometric description characterizes collapse as a finite displacement between an initial and a final statistical state, the present approach incorporates the dynamical law governing the intermediate evolution. A quantum state is represented by a density operator ρ(t) satisfying a specified dynamical equation, dρdt=C[ρ,t], or, more generally, by a unitary-plus-collapse evolution in which the collapse contribution is explicitly identified. The resulting trajectory is embedded in the statistical manifold of quantum states and analyzed using the quantum Fisher information metric. This allows one to define the instantaneous Fisher speed, the information-geometric length of the collapse trajectory, and an integrated geometric cost associated with the dynamical state change. The framework also permits comparison between the actual trajectory generated by a collapse model and the corresponding Fisher-geodesic trajectory connecting the same initial and final states. Relative entropy provides a complementary global measure of the distinguishability generated by the evolution, while the quantum Fisher metric characterizes its local statistical structure. The formalism is constructed so that different dynamical collapse proposals can be analyzed within a common geometric language without assuming that the geometric quantities themselves constitute a collapse mechanism: this is a diagnostic framework rather than a mechanism. In particular, once a specific collapse generator is supplied, the framework can determine how its parameters, localization properties, stochasticity, and time scale are reflected in the geometry of the associated state trajectory. The resulting formulation therefore provides a bridge between dynamical models of wave-function collapse and the information geometry of a quantum state space, while preserving the distinction between a physical collapse law and its geometric characterization.