We consider various forms of a process, which we call {\em gluing}, for combining two or more complementary quantum channel pairs $(\mathcal{B},\mathcal{C})$ to form a composite. One type of gluing combines a perfect channel with a second channel to produce a \emph{generalized erasure channel} pair $(\mathcal{B}_g,\mathcal{C}_g)$. We consider two cases in which the second channel is (i) an amplitude-damping, or (ii) a phase-damping qubit channel; (ii) is the \emph{dephrasure channel} of Leditzky et al. For both (i) and (ii), $(\mathcal{B}_g,\mathcal{C}_g)$ depends on the damping parameter $0\leq p\leq 1$ and a parameter $0 \leq λ\leq 1$ that characterizes the gluing process. In both cases we study $Q^{(1)}(\mathcal{B}_g)$ and $Q^{(1)}(\mathcal{C}_g)$, where $Q^{(1)}$ is the channel coherent information, and determine the regions in the $(p,λ)$ plane where each is zero or positive, confirming previous results for (ii). A somewhat surprising result for which we lack any intuitive explanation is that $Q^{(1)}(\mathcal{C}_g)$ is zero for $λ\leq 1/2$ when $p=0$, but is strictly positive (though perhaps extremely small) for all values of $λ> 0$ when $p$ is positive by even the smallest amount. In addition we study the nonadditivity of $Q^{(1)}(\mathcal{B}_g)$ for two identical channels in parallel. It occurs in a well-defined region of the $(p,λ)$ plane in case (i). In case (ii) we have extended previous results for the dephrasure channel without, however, identifying the full range of $(p,λ)$ values where nonadditivity occurs. Again, an intuitive explanation is lacking.
We study classical capacities of quantum multi-access channels in geometric terms revealing breaking of additivity of Holevo-like capacity. This effect is purely quantum since, as one points out, any classical multi-access channels have their regions additive. The observed non-additivity in quantum version presented here seems to be the first effect of this type with no additional resources like side classical or quantum information (or entanglement) involved. The simplicity of quantum channels involved resembles butterfly effect in case of classical channel with two senders and two receivers.
We analyze quantum network primitives which are entanglement-breaking. We show superadditivity of quantum and classical capacity regions for quantum multiple-access channel and quantum butterfly network. Since the effects are especially visible at high noise they suggest that quantum information effects may be particularly helpful in the case of the networks with occasional high noise rates. To our knowledge the present effects provide the first qualitative borderline between superadditivities of bipartite and multipartite systems.
Quantum information theory establishes the ultimate limits on communication and cryptography in terms of channel capacities for various types of information. The private capacity is particularly important because it quantifies achievable rates of quantum key distribution. We study the power of quantum channels with limited private capacity, focusing on channels that dephase in random bases. These display extensive nonadditivity of private capacity: a channel with 2 log d input qubits has a private capacity less than 2, but when used together with a second channel with zero private capacity the…
The quantum analog of the classical erasure channel provides a simple example of a channel whose asymptotic capacity for faithful transmission of intact quantum states, with and without the assistance of a two-way classical side channel, can be computed exactly. We derive the quantum and classical capacities for the quantum erasure channel and related channels, and compare them to the depolarizing channel, for which only upper and lower bounds on the capacities are known.
The quantum capacity of a quantum channel captures its capability for noiseless quantum communication. It lies at the heart of quantum information theory. Unfortunately, our poor understanding of nonadditivity of coherent information makes it hard to understand the quantum capacity of all but very special channels. In this paper, we consider the dephrasure channel, which is the concatenation of a dephasing channel and an erasure channel. This very simple channel displays remarkably rich and exotic properties: we find nonadditivity of coherent information at the two-letter level, a big gap betw…
We present a communication protocol for the erasure channel assisted by backward classical communication, which achieves a significantly better rate than the best prior result. In addition, we prove an upper bound for the capacity of the channel. The upper bound is smaller than the capacity of the erasure channel when it is assisted by two-way classical communication. Thus, we prove the separation between quantum capacities assisted by backward classical communication and two-way classical communication.
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics（佩里尔研究所）；Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学量子计算研究所）；Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin（柏林自由大学达勒姆复杂量子系统中心）；Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学应用数学系）；Department of Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学组合优化系）
Losses in quantum communication lines severely affect the rates of reliable information transmission and are usually considered to be state-independent. However, the loss probability does depend on the system state in general, with the polarization dependent losses being a prominent example. Here we analyze biased trace decreasing quantum operations that assign different loss probabilities to states and introduce the concept of a generalized erasure channel. We find lower and upper bounds for the classical and quantum capacities of the generalized erasure channel as well as characterize its de…
Recently there has been considerable activity on the subject of additivity of various quantum channel capacities. Here, we construct a family of channels with sharply bounded classical, hence private capacity. On the other hand, their quantum capacity when combined with a zero private (and zero quantum) capacity erasure channel, becomes larger than the previous classical capacity. As a consequence, we can conclude for the first time that the classical private capacity is non-additive. In fact, in our construction even the quantum capacity of the tensor product of two channels can be greater th…
Quantum communications promises reliable transmission of quantum information, efficient distribution of entanglement and generation of completely secure keys. For all these tasks, we need to determine the optimal point-to-point rates that are achievable by two remote parties at the ends of a quantum channel, without restrictions on their local operations and classical communication, which can be unlimited and two-way. These two-way assisted capacities represent the ultimate rates that are reachable without quantum repeaters. By constructing an upperbound based on the relative entropy of entang…
One of the most sought-after goals in experimental quantum communication is the implementation of a quantum repeater. The performance of quantum repeaters can be assessed by comparing the attained rate with the quantum and private capacity of direct transmission, assisted by unlimited classical two-way communication. However, these quantities are hard to compute, motivating the search for upper bounds. Takeoka, Guha and Wilde found the squashed entanglement of a quantum channel to be an upper bound on both these capacities. In general it is still hard to find the exact value of the squashed en…
We consider quantum and private communications assisted by repeaters, from the basic scenario of a single repeater chain to the general case of an arbitrarily-complex quantum network, where systems may be routed through single or multiple paths. In this context, we investigate the ultimate rates at which two end-parties may transmit quantum information, distribute entanglement, or generate secret keys. These end-to-end capacities are defined by optimizing over the most general adaptive protocols that are allowed by quantum mechanics. Combining techniques from quantum information and classical …
The quantum channel capacity gives the ultimate limit for the rate at which quantum data can be reliably transmitted through a noisy quantum channel. Degradable quantum channels are among the few channels whose quantum capacities are known. Given the quantum capacity of a degradable channel, it remains challenging to find a practical coding scheme which approaches capacity. Here we discuss code designs for the detected-jump channel, a degradable channel with practical relevance describing the physics of spontaneous decay of atoms with detected photon emission. We show that this channel can be …
Information theory establishes the fundamental limits on data transmission, storage, and processing. Quantum information theory unites information theoretic ideas with an accurate quantum-mechanical description of reality to give a more accurate and complete theory with new and more powerful possibilities for information processing. The goal of both classical and quantum information theory is to quantify the optimal rates of interconversion of different resources. These rates are usually characterized in terms of entropies. However, nonadditivity of many entropic formulas often makes finding a…
Using a technique based on quantum teleportation, we simplify the most general adaptive protocols for key distribution, entanglement distillation and quantum communication over a wide class of quantum channels in arbitrary dimension. Thanks to this method, we bound the ultimate rates for secret key generation and quantum communication through single-mode Gaussian channels and several discrete-variable channels. In particular, we derive exact formulas for the two-way assisted capacities of the bosonic quantum-limited amplifier and the dephasing channel in arbitrary dimension, as well as the sec…
We investigate entanglement transmission over an unknown channel in the presence of a third party (called the adversary), which is enabled to choose the channel from a given set of memoryless but non-stationary channels without informing the legitimate sender and receiver about the particular choice that he made. This channel model is called arbitrarily varying quantum channel (AVQC). We derive a quantum version of Ahlswede's dichotomy for classical arbitrarily varying channels. This includes a regularized formula for the common randomness-assisted capacity for entanglement transmission of an …
