Operator Michelson Contrast: Logarithmic Parametrisation, Subadditivity, and a Sharp Noncommutativity Threshold

Abstract

We study the operator Michelson contrast Delta(A) = (kappa(A)-1)/(kappa(A)+1), with kappa(A)=||A|| ||A^{-1}||, for positive invertible operators, and introduce its logarithmic parametrization via arctanh(Delta(A)) = (1/2) ln kappa(A). This defines the Operator Logarithmic Contrast (OLC), extended to all invertible operators via polar decomposition. We prove OLC is subadditive under multiplication: OLC(AB) <= OLC(A)+OLC(B). For positive invertible A, we identify OLC(A) exactly as the projective Thompson distance from the identity ray to the ray of A. We establish a sharp dimensional threshold for equality in subadditivity: for dimensions 2 and 3, equality forces commutativity, while n=4 is the smallest dimension admitting noncommuting equality examples. Moreover, equality still forces commutativity in any total dimension if the operators factor as pure Kronecker products X = tensor X_i and Y = tensor Y_i with each factor dimension <= 3. We derive contraction inequalities, sum bounds, trace estimates for density operators, Lipschitz continuity (including singular limits), and limiting behavior for Cesaro means and infinite products. For density operators, we obtain an exact closed-form bijection between OLC and von Neumann entropy for qubits; prove this bijection does not exist for d >= 3; and establish upper/lower entropy envelopes at fixed condition number, showing the admissible range [S_min(kappa), S_max(kappa)] satisfies ln 2 <= S_max(kappa) < ln 3 for every kappa > 1. The qubit case recovers, as an operator lift, the classical Michelson-Jensen-Shannon equivalence of Bruni, Rossi, and Vitulano, while a counterexample shows this equivalence fails for d > 2 as a direct consequence of the non-bijectivity.