arXiv subjects

Lorenzo Portinale

Publications and source records attributed to Lorenzo Portinale.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Quantum thermodynamics and semidefinite programming: regularization and algorithms

We investigate variational problems in quantum thermodynamics at positive temperature, in which admissible states are constrained by prescribed outcomes of a finite set of measurements. We solve a problem raised by the recent work [Liu, Minervini, Patel, Wilde; arXiv:2505.04514 - Section C] and develop a general mathematical setup which allows a broad class of possible regularizations. Employing methods inspired by non-commutative optimal transport, we analyze the dual formulation of the problem, study the existence and characterization of maximizers, and investigate the qualitative behavior of the model in the zero-temperature limit. In the second part, we tailor this framework to quantum state tomography and quantum optimal transport. Finally, we address computational aspects, with particular attention to the convergence of algorithms in selected cases.

math-ph↗

arXiv2026

On the $q$-integrability of $p$-Wasserstein barycenters

We study the $L^q$-regularity of the density of barycenters of $N$ probability measures on $\mathbb{R}^d$ with respect to the $p$-Wasserstein metric ($1 1$, as in the classical case ($p=2$) of Agueh--Carlier, or for $W_p$-geodesics ($N=2$). Here we prove that this is the case if one marginal belongs to $L^q$ and the supports of all the marginals satisfy suitable geometric assumptions. However, we show that, as soon as $N>2$, it is possible to find examples of $W_p$-barycenters which are not $q$-integrable, even if one marginal is compactly supported and bounded, thus highlighting the role played by the geometry of the supports. Furthermore, we provide a general estimate of the $L^q$-norm, including a detailed study of the sources of singularities, and a characterization of the $W_p$-barycenters à la Agueh--Carlier in terms of the associated Kantorovich potentials. Finally, we explicitly compute the $W_p$-barycenters of measures obtained as push-forward of special affine transformations. In this case, regularity holds without any additional requirement on the supports.

math.OC↗

arXiv2025

Limit theorems for empirical measures of interacting quantum systems in Wasserstein space

We prove fundamental properties of empirical measures induced by measurements performed on quantum $N$-body systems. More precisely, we consider measurements performed on the ground state of an interacting, trapped Bose gase in the Gross--Pitaevskii regime, known to exhibit Bose--Einstein condensation. For the corresponding empirical measure, we prove a weak law of large numbers with limit induced by the condensate wave function and characterize the fluctuations around through an appropriate central limit theorem.

math-ph↗

arXiv2025

Quantum optimal transport with convex regularization

The goal of this paper is to settle the study of non-commutative optimal transport problems with convex regularization, in their static and finite-dimensional formulations. We consider both the balanced and unbalanced problem and show in both cases a duality result, characterizations of minimizers (for the primal) and maximizers (for the dual). An important tool we define is a non-commutative version of the classical $(c,ψ)$-transforms associated with a general convex regularization, which we employ to prove the convergence of Sinkhorn iterations in the balanced case. Finally, we show the convergence of the unbalanced transport problems towards the balanced one, as well as the convergence of transforms, as the marginal penalization parameters go to $+\infty$.

math-ph↗

arXiv2025

Stochastic homogenisation of nonlinear minimum-cost flow problems

This paper deals with the large-scale behaviour of nonlinear minimum-cost flow problems on random graphs. In such problems, a random nonlinear cost functional is minimised among all flows (discrete vector-fields) with a prescribed net flux through each vertex. On a stationary random graph embedded in $\mathbb{R}^d$, our main result asserts that these problems converge, in the large-scale limit, to a continuous minimisation problem where an effective cost functional is minimised among all vector fields with prescribed divergence. Our main result is formulated using $Γ$-convergence and applies to multi-species problems. The proof employs the blow-up technique by Fonseca and Müller in a discrete setting. One of the main challenges overcome is the construction of the homogenised energy density on random graphs without a periodic structure.

math.AP↗

arXiv2023

Discrete-to-continuum limits of optimal transport with linear growth on periodic graphs

We prove discrete-to-continuum convergence for dynamical optimal transport on $\mathbb{Z}^d$-periodic graphs with energy density having linear growth at infinity. This result provides an answer to a problem left open by Gladbach, Kopfer, Maas, and Portinale (Calc Var Partial Differential Equations 62(5), 2023), where the convergence behaviour of discrete boundary-value dynamical transport problems is proved under the stronger assumption of superlinear growth. Our result extends the known literature to some important classes of examples, such as scaling limits of 1-Wasserstein transport problems. Similarly to what happens in the quadratic case, the geometry of the graph plays a crucial role in the structure of the limit cost function, as we discuss in the final part of this work, which includes some visual representations.

math.OC↗

arXiv2023

Entropic regularised optimal transport in a noncommutative setting

This survey has been written in occasion of the School and Workshop about Optimal Transport on Quantum Structures at Erdös Center in September 2022. We discuss some recent results on noncommutative entropic optimal transport problems and their relation to the study of the ground-state energy of a finite-dimensional composite quantum system at positive temperature, following the work [FGP23]. In the first part, we review some of the classical primal-dual formulations of optimal transport in the commutative setting, including extensions to multimarginal problems and entropic regularisation. We discuss the main features of the entropic problem and show how optimisers can be efficiently computed via the so-called Sinkhorn algorithm. In the second part, we discuss how to apply these ideas to a noncommutative setting, in particular on the space of density matrices over finite dimensional Hilbert spaces. In this framework, we present equivalences between primal and dual formulations, and use them to characterise the optimisers. Despite the lack of explicit formulas due to the noncommutative nature of the problem, one can also show that a suitable quantum version of the Sinkhorn algorithm converges to the minimiser of the entropic problem. In the final part of this work, we discuss similar results for bosonic and fermionic systems.

math-ph↗

arXiv2023

Scaling Limits of Random Walks, Harmonic Profiles, and Stationary Non-Equilibrium States in Lipschitz Domains

We consider the open symmetric exclusion (SEP) and inclusion (SIP) processes on a bounded Lipschitz domain $Ω$, with both fast and slow boundary. For the random walks on $Ω$ dual to SEP/SIP we establish: a functional-CLT-type convergence to the Brownian motion on $Ω$ with either Neumann (slow boundary), Dirichlet (fast boundary), or Robin (at criticality) boundary conditions; the discrete-to-continuum convergence of the corresponding harmonic profiles. As a consequence, we rigorously derive the hydrodynamic and hydrostatic limits for SEP/SIP on $Ω$, and analyze their stationary non-equilibrium fluctuations. All scaling limit results for SEP/SIP concern finite-dimensional distribution convergence only, as our duality techniques do not require to establish tightness for the fields associated to the particle systems.

math.PR↗

arXiv2022

The strong Brunn--Minkowski inequality and its equivalence with the CD condition

In the setting of essentially non-branching metric measure spaces, we prove the equivalence between the curvature dimension condition CD(K,N), in the sense of Lott--Sturm--Villani, and a newly introduced notion that we call strong Brunn--Minkowski inequality SBM(K,N). This condition is a reinforcement of the generalized Brunn--Minkowski inequality BM(K,N), which is known to hold in CD(K,N) spaces. Our result is a first step towards providing a full equivalence between the CD(K,N) condition and the validity of BM(K,N), which we have recently proved in the framework of weighted Riemannian manifolds.

math.MG↗

arXiv2022

The Brunn--Minkowski inequality implies the CD condition in weighted Riemannian manifolds

The curvature dimension condition CD(K,N), pioneered by Sturm and Lott--Villani, is a synthetic notion of having curvature bounded below and dimension bounded above, in the non-smooth setting. This condition implies a suitable generalization of the Brunn--Minkowski inequality, denoted by BM(K,N). In this paper, we address the converse implication in the setting of weighted Riemannian manifolds, proving that BM(K,N) is in fact equivalent to CD(K,N). Our result allows to characterize the curvature dimension condition without using neither the optimal transport nor the differential structure of the manifold.

math.DG↗

arXiv2022

Optimal transport with nonlinear mobilities: a deterministic particle approximation result

We study the discretization of generalized Wasserstein distances with nonlinear mobilities on the real line via suitable discrete metrics on the cone of N ordered particles, a setting which naturally appears in the framework of deterministic particle approximation of partial differential equations. In particular, we provide a $Γ$-convergence result for the associated discrete metrics as $N \to \infty$ to the continuous one and discuss applications to the approximation of one-dimensional conservation laws (of gradient flow type) via the so-called generalized minimizing movements, proving a convergence result of the schemes at any given discrete time step $τ>0$. This the first work of a series aimed at shedding new lights on the interplay between generalized gradient-flow structures, conservation laws, and Wasserstein distances with nonlinear mobilities.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

Homogenisation of dynamical optimal transport on periodic graphs

This paper deals with the large-scale behaviour of dynamical optimal transport on $\mathbb{Z}^d$-periodic graphs with general lower semicontinuous and convex energy densities. Our main contribution is a homogenisation result that describes the effective behaviour of the discrete problems in terms of a continuous optimal transport problem. The effective energy density can be explicitly expressed in terms of a cell formula, which is a finite-dimensional convex programming problem that depends non-trivially on the local geometry of the discrete graph and the discrete energy density. Our homogenisation result is derived from a $Γ$-convergence result for action functionals on curves of measures, which we prove under very mild growth conditions on the energy density. We investigate the cell formula in several cases of interest, including finite-volume discretisations of the Wasserstein distance, where non-trivial limiting behaviour occurs.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

A Non-Commutative Entropic Optimal Transport Approach to Quantum Composite Systems at Positive Temperature

This paper establishes new connections between many-body quantum systems, One-body Reduced Density Matrices Functional Theory (1RDMFT) and Optimal Transport (OT), by interpreting the problem of computing the ground-state energy of a finite dimensional composite quantum system at positive temperature as a non-commutative entropy regularized Optimal Transport problem. We develop a new approach to fully characterize the dual-primal solutions in such non-commutative setting. The mathematical formalism is particularly relevant in quantum chemistry: numerical realizations of the many-electron ground state energy can be computed via a non-commutative version of Sinkhorn algorithm. Our approach allows to prove convergence and robustness of this algorithm, which, to our best knowledge, were unknown even in the two marginal case. Our methods are based on careful a priori estimates in the dual problem, which we believe to be of independent interest. Finally, the above results are extended in 1RDMFT setting, where bosonic or fermionic symmetry conditions are enforced on the problem.

math-ph↗

arXiv2020

Evolutionary $Γ$-convergence of entropic gradient flow structures for Fokker-Planck equations in multiple dimensions

We consider finite-volume approximations of Fokker-Planck equations on bounded convex domains in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and study the corresponding gradient flow structures. We reprove the convergence of the discrete to continuous Fokker-Planck equation via the method of Evolutionary $Γ$-convergence, i.e., we pass to the limit at the level of the gradient flow structures, generalising the one-dimensional result obtained by Disser and Liero. The proof is of variational nature and relies on a Mosco convergence result for functionals in the discrete-to-continuum limit that is of independent interest. Our results apply to arbitrary regular meshes, even though the associated discrete transport distances may fail to converge to the Wasserstein distance in this generality.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Homogenisation of one-dimensional discrete optimal transport

This paper deals with dynamical optimal transport metrics defined by spatial discretisation of the Benamou--Benamou formula for the Kantorovich metric $W_2$. Such metrics appear naturally in discretisations of $W_2$-gradient flow formulations for dissipative PDE. However, it has recently been shown that these metrics do not in general converge to $W_2$, unless strong geometric constraints are imposed on the discrete mesh. In this paper we prove that, in a $1$-dimensional periodic setting, discrete transport metrics converge to a limiting transport metric with a non-trivial effective mobility. This mobility depends sensitively on the geometry of the mesh and on the non-local mobility at the discrete level. Our result quantifies to what extent discrete transport can make use of microstructure in the mesh to reduce the cost of transport.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

Penalization via global functionals of optimal-control problems for dissipative evolution

We consider an optimal control problem for an abstract nonlinear dissipative evolution equation. The differential constraint is penalized by augmenting the target functional by a nonnegative global-in-time functional which is null-minimized in the evolution equation is satisfied. Different variational settings are presented, leading to the convergence of the penalization method for gradient flows, noncyclic and semimonotone flows, doubly nonlinear evolutions, and GENERIC systems.

math.OC↗