  We consider n identically prepared qubits and study the asymptotic properties
of the joint state \rho^{\otimes n}. We show that for all individual states
\rho situated in a local neighborhood of size 1/\sqrt{n} of a fixed state
\rho^0, the joint state converges to a displaced thermal equilibrium state of a
quantum harmonic oscillator. The precise meaning of the convergence is that
there exist physical transformations T_{n} (trace preserving quantum channels)
which map the qubits states asymptotically close to their corresponding
oscillator state, uniformly over all states in the local neighborhood.
  A few consequences of the main result are derived. We show that the optimal
joint measurement in the Bayesian set-up is also optimal within the pointwise
approach. Moreover, this measurement converges to the heterodyne measurement
which is the optimal joint measurement of position and momentum for the quantum
oscillator. A problem of local state discrimination is solved using local
asymptotic normality.
