Certifying coherence in quantum devices under classical control

Abstract: Quantum states that do not commute exhibit coherence, but only when the device preparing them is assumed to be unaffected by classical parameters inaccessible to the experimenter. Such hidden classical control arises both in fundamental tests of quantum phenomena and in quantum information protocols that operate under limited control assumptions. Here, we address the problem of coherence certification by developing complete and practically efficient methods. First, we prove that coherence can be fully characterised through a hierarchy of semidefinite programs. Second, we introduce a practical semidefinite programming approach that achieves useful accuracy while remaining computationally efficient even for preparation devices generating many, potentially high-dimensional, quantum states. For the important special case of qubits, we further exploit conceptual connections with the theory of joint measurability to obtain highly accurate coherence characterisation that scales to more than one thousand qubits. Finally, we apply these methods to determine whether quantum channels are able to preserve coherence or are inherently coherence-breaking. Together, these results provide a powerful toolbox for analysing quantum superposition in the presence of hidden classical control.