Unambiguous non-orthogonal state discrimination has fundamental importance in quantum information and quantum cryptography. The discrimination is carried out by POVM generalized measurements. For this process, we find a tradeoff between the needed energy resources and the evolution time, and express it in terms of action-like cost inequality. We find the realization that minimizes this action-like cost and show that in this case the cost is determined by the maximal population transfer from the system to the ancilla needed for the POVM implementation.
Categories: quant-ph