Strategy optimization for Bayesian quantum parameter estimation with finite copies: Adaptive greedy, parallel, sequential, and general strategies

Abstract: In this work, we study Bayesian quantum parameter estimation given a finite number of uses of the process encoding one or more unknown physical quantities. For multiple uses, it is conventional to classify quantum metrological protocols as parallel, sequential, or indefinite causal order. Within each class, the central question is to determine the optimal strategy -- namely, the choice of optimal input state, control operations, measurement, and estimator(s) -- to perform the estimation task. Using the formalism of higher-order operations, we develop an algorithm that looks for the optimal solution, and we provide an efficient numerical implementation based on semidefinite programming. Our benchmark examples, specifically those against existing analytical solutions, demonstrate how powerful and precise our method is. We further explore the potential of greedy adaptive strategies, which are based on classical feedforward to design the optimal protocol for the next round. Using this framework, we compare the optimal achievable Bayesian score across classes. We demonstrate the strength of our algorithm in several examples, from single to multiparameter estimation and with various prior distributions. Particularly, we find examples in which there is a strict hierarchy between different classes. Nonetheless, the performance of the different quantum memory-assisted classes are not significantly different, while they may significantly outperform the adaptive greedy strategy.