Quantum channels often cause information loss of a quantum system, and it is desirable to quantify such loss. Alternatively, one may ask how much information can be preserved by a quantum channel. In this work we introduce a quantifier for information loss of quantum channels via uncertainty of the corresponding Choi states determined by the channel-state duality, reveal its basic properties, derive its ranges for various channels, and identify the extremal channels (which depend crucially on the relation between the input and output system dimensions) with the minimal and maximal information loss. Furthermore, we evaluate this quantifier for some prototypical quantum channels and their corresponding complementary channels. We further compare information loss and irreversibility by illuminating their similarities and differences. These results shed light on channel structures from an information-theoretic perspective.

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• Quantum channels
• Quantum information theory