Computing Sum of Sources Over a Classical-Quantum MAC

Abstract

We consider the task of communicating a generic bivariate function of two classical correlated sources over a Classical-Quantum Multiple Access Channel (CQ-MAC). The two sources are observed at the encoders of the CQ-MAC, and the decoder aims at reconstructing a bivariate function from the received quantum state. We first propose a coding scheme based on asymptotically good algebraic structured codes, in particular, nested coset codes, and provide a set of sufficient conditions for the reconstruction of the function of the sources over a CQ-MAC. The proposed technique enables the decoder to recover the desired function without recovering the sources themselves. We further improve this by employing a coding scheme based on a classical superposition of algebraic structured codes and unstructured codes. This coding scheme allows exploiting the symmetric structure common amongst the sources and also leverage the asymmetries. We derive a new set of sufficient conditions that strictly enlarges the largest known set of sources whose function can be reconstructed over any given CQ-MAC, and identify examples demonstrating the same. We provide these conditions in terms of single-letter quantum information-theoretic quantities.