Breaking the Multiplicative Overhead in Quantum Entropy Estimation
The von Neumann, Tsallis, and Rényi entropies are fundamental measures of quantum information. A common estimation strategy multiplies the worst-case costs of spectral transformation and statistical readout, leaving gaps to query lower bounds. We reduce this overhead with multi-level algorithms that use local normalization and precision allocation, while variable-time estimation accounts for the probability of reaching expensive spectral tests. With controlled purified access and its inverse, we obtain bounds for additive error $\varepsilon$, rank upper bound $R$, and fixed order $α$. Tsallis entropy estimation has near-optimal rank-independent query complexity $\widetilde O(\varepsilon^{-1/(α-1)})$ for $1<α<2$, when the allowed dimension and rank accommodate the lower-bound instances, and $\widetilde O(1/\varepsilon)$ for $α\ge2$, where $\widetilde O$ suppresses logarithmic factors. The first saves a factor $1/\varepsilon$; the second extends known integer-order scaling to noninteger orders. We also improve the von Neumann entropy bound from $\widetilde O(R/\varepsilon^2)$ to $\widetilde O(R/\varepsilon)$ and obtain $\widetilde O(R/\varepsilon)$ for noninteger Rényi orders $1<α<3$, with further bounds at other orders. Our functional-estimation theorem replaces the global product by a sum of local costs weighted by function magnitudes and spectral masses. We further estimate fixed logarithmic moments and entropy variance using $\widetilde O(R/\varepsilon)$ queries, providing efficient access to fluctuation parameters that enter finite-blocklength quantum compression and pure-state entanglement conversion. More broadly, our framework extends beyond entropy to a broad class of density-matrix functionals, offering a systematic approach toward optimal query complexity in quantum spectral estimation.