Entropy of a Quantum Error Correction Code

Abstract

We define and investigate the notion of entropy for quantum error correcting codes. The entropy of a code for a given quantum channel has a number of equivalent realisations, such as through the coefficients associated with the Knill-Laflamme conditions and the entropy exchange computed with respect to any initial state supported on the code. In general the entropy of a code can be viewed as a measure of how close it is to the minimal entropy case, which is given by unitarily correctable codes (including decoherence-free subspaces), or the maximal entropy case, which from dynamical Choi matrix considerations corresponds to non-degenerate codes. We consider several examples, including a detailed analysis of the case of binary unitary channels, and we discuss an extension of the entropy to operator quantum error correcting subsystem codes.