Quantum Multiple Access Channels Research Articles

The Quantum Multiple-Access Channel With Cribbing Encoders

Communication over a quantum multiple-access channel (MAC) with cribbing encoders is considered, whereby Transmitter 2 performs a measurement on a system that is entangled with Transmitter 1. Based on the no-cloning theorem, perfect cribbing is impossible. This leads to the introduction of a MAC model with noisy cribbing. In the causal and non-causal cribbing scenarios, Transmitter 2 performs the measurement before the input of Transmitter 1 is sent through the channel. Hence, Transmitter 2's cribbing may inflict a "state collapse" for Transmitter 1. Achievable regions are derived for each setting. Furthermore, a regularized capacity characterization is established for robust cribbing, i.e. when the cribbing system contains all the information of the channel input. Building on the analogy between the noisy cribbing model and the relay channel, a partial decode-forward region is derived for a quantum MAC with non-robust cribbing. For the classical-quantum MAC with cribbing encoders, the capacity region is determined with perfect cribbing of the classical input, and a cutset region is derived for noisy cribbing. In the special case of a classical-quantum MAC with a deterministic cribbing channel, the inner and outer bounds coincide.

Private Classical Communication Over Quantum Multiple-Access Channels

We study private classical communication over quantum multiple-access channels. For an arbitrary number of transmitters, we derive a regularized expression of the capacity region. In the case of degradable channels, we establish a single-letter expression for the best achievable sum-rate and prove that this quantity also corresponds to the best achievable sum-rate for quantum communication over degradable quantum multiple-access channels. In our achievability result, we decouple the reliability and privacy constraints, which are handled via source coding with quantum side information and universal hashing, respectively. Hence, we also establish that the multi-user coding problem under consideration can be handled solely via point-to-point coding techniques. As a by-product of independent interest, we derive a distributed leftover hash lemma against quantum side information that ensures privacy in our achievability result.

Entanglement-assisted capacity regions and protocol designs for quantum multiple-access channels

We solve the entanglement-assisted (EA) classical capacity region of quantum multiple-access channels (MACs) with an arbitrary number of senders. As an example, we consider the bosonic thermal-loss MAC and solve the one-shot capacity region enabled by an entanglement source composed of sender-receiver pairwise two-mode squeezed vacuum states. The EA capacity region is strictly larger than the capacity region without entanglement-assistance. With two-mode squeezed vacuum states as the source and phase modulation as the encoding, we also design practical receiver protocols to realize the entanglement advantages. Four practical receiver designs, based on optical parametric amplifiers, are given and analyzed. In the parameter region of a large noise background, the receivers can enable a simultaneous rate advantage of 82.0% for each sender. Due to teleportation and superdense coding, our results for EA classical communication can be directly extended to EA quantum communication at half of the rates. Our work provides a unique and practical network communication scenario where entanglement can be beneficial.

Universal random codes: capacity regions of the compound quantum multiple-access channel with one classical and one quantum sender

We consider the compound memoryless quantum multiple-access channel (QMAC) with two sending terminals. In this model, the transmission is governed by the memoryless extensions of a completely positive and trace preserving map which can be any element of a prescribed set of possible maps. We study a communication scenario, where one of the senders aims for transmission of classical messages while the other sender sends quantum information. Combining powerful universal random coding results for classical and quantum information transmission over point-to-point channels, we establish universal codes for the mentioned two-sender task. Conversely, we prove that the two-dimensional rate region achievable with these codes is optimal. In consequence, we obtain a multi-letter characterization of the capacity region of each compound QMAC for the considered transmission task.

On the near-optimality of one-shot classical communication over quantum channels

We study the problem of transmission of classical messages through a quantum channel in several network scenarios in the one-shot setting. We consider both the entanglement assisted and unassisted cases for the point to point quantum channel, the quantum multiple-access channel, the quantum channel with a state, and the quantum broadcast channel. We show that it is possible to near-optimally characterize the amount of communication that can be transmitted in these scenarios, using the position-based decoding strategy introduced in a prior study (A. Anshu, R. Jain, and N. Warsi, https://ieee.org/document/8399830). In the process, we provide a short and elementary proof of the converse for entanglement-assisted quantum channel coding in terms of the quantum hypothesis testing divergence [obtained earlier in the work of W. Matthews and S. Wehner, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 60, 7317–7329 (2014)]. Our proof has the additional utility that it naturally extends to various network scenarios mentioned above. Furthermore, none of our achievability results require a simultaneous decoding strategy, existence of which is an important open question in quantum Shannon theory.

Applications of position-based coding to classical communication over quantum channels

Recently, a coding technique called position-based coding has been used to establish achievability statements for various kinds of classical communication protocols that use quantum channels. In the present paper, we apply this technique in the entanglement-assisted setting in order to establish lower bounds for error exponents, lower bounds on the second-order coding rate, and one-shot lower bounds. We also demonstrate that position-based coding can be a powerful tool for analyzing other communication settings. In particular, we reduce the quantum simultaneous decoding conjecture for entanglement-assisted or unassisted communication over a quantum multiple access channel to open questions in multiple quantum hypothesis testing. We then determine achievable rate regions for entanglement-assisted or unassisted classical communication over a quantum multiple-access channel, when using a particular quantum simultaneous decoder. The achievable rate regions given in this latter case are generally suboptimal, involving differences of Rényi-two entropies and conditional quantum entropies.

General bounds for sender-receiver capacities in multipoint quantum communications

We investigate the maximum rates for transmitting quantum information, distilling entanglement, and distributing secret keys between a sender and a receiver in a multipoint communication scenario, with the assistance of unlimited two-way classical communication involving all parties. First we consider the case where a sender communicates with an arbitrary number of receivers, so called quantum broadcast channel. Here we also provide a simple analysis in the bosonic setting where we consider quantum broadcasting through a sequence of beamsplitters. Then, we consider the opposite case where an arbitrary number of senders communicate with a single receiver, so called quantum multiple-access channel. Finally, we study the general case of all-in-all quantum communication where an arbitrary number of senders communicate with an arbitrary number of receivers. Since our bounds are formulated for quantum systems of arbitrary dimension, they can be applied to many different physical scenarios involving multipoint quantum communication.

A Fundamental Inequality for Lower-Bounding the Error Probability for Classical and Classical-Quantum Multiple Access Channels and Its Applications

In the study of the capacity problem for multiple access channels (MACs), a lower bound on the error probability obtained by Han plays a crucial role in the converse parts of several kinds of channel coding theorems in the information-spectrum framework. Recently, Yagi and Oohama showed a tighter bound than the Han bound by means of Polyanskiy's converse. In this paper, we give a new bound which generalizes and strengthens the Yagi-Oohama bound, and demonstrate that the bound plays a fundamental role in deriving extensions of several known bounds. In particular, the Yagi-Oohama bound is generalized to two different directions; i.e, to general input distributions and to general encoders. In addition we extend these bounds to the quantum MACs and apply them to the converse problems for several information-spectrum settings.

Joint source–channel coding for a quantum multiple access channel

Suppose that two senders each obtain one share of the output of a classical, bivariate, correlated information source. They would like to transmit the correlated source to a receiver using a quantum multiple access channel. In prior work, Cover, El Gamal and Salehi provided a combined source–channel coding strategy for a classical multiple access channel which outperforms the simpler ‘separation’ strategy where separate codebooks are used for the source coding and the channel coding tasks. In this paper, we prove that a coding strategy similar to the Cover–El Gamal–Salehi strategy and a corresponding quantum simultaneous decoder allow for the reliable transmission of a source over a quantum multiple access channel, as long as a set of information inequalities involving the Holevo quantity hold.

Sequential, successive, and simultaneous decoders for entanglement-assisted classical communication

Bennett et al. showed that allowing shared entanglement between a sender and receiver before communication begins dramatically simplifies the theory of quantum channels, and these results suggest that it would be worthwhile to study other scenarios for entanglement-assisted classical communication. In this vein, the present paper makes several contributions to the theory of entanglement-assisted classical communication. First, we rephrase the Giovannetti–Lloyd–Maccone sequential decoding argument as a more general “packing lemma” and show that it gives an alternate way of achieving the entanglement-assisted classical capacity. Next, we show that a similar sequential decoder can achieve the Hsieh–Devetak–Winter region for entanglement-assisted classical communication over a multiple access channel. Third, we prove the existence of a quantum simultaneous decoder for entanglement-assisted classical communication over a multiple access channel with two senders. This result implies a solution of the quantum simultaneous decoding conjecture for unassisted classical communication over quantum multiple access channels with two senders, but the three-sender case still remains open (Sen recently and independently solved this unassisted two-sender case with a different technique). We then leverage this result to recover the known regions for unassisted and assisted quantum communication over a quantum multiple access channel, though our proof exploits a coherent quantum simultaneous decoder. Finally, we determine an achievable rate region for communication over an entanglement-assisted bosonic multiple access channel and compare it with the Yen-Shapiro outer bound for unassisted communication over the same channel.

Nonadditivity of quantum capacities of quantum multiple-access channels and the butterfly network

Multipartite quantum information transmission without additional classical resources is investigated. We show purely quantum superadditivity of quantum capacity regions of quantum memoryless multiple-access (MA) channels, which are not entanglement breaking. Also, we find that the superadditivity holds when the MA channel extends to the quantum butterfly network, which can achieve quantum network coding. The present widespread effects for the channels which enable entanglement distribution have not been revealed for multipartite scenarios.

Subadditivity of the minimum output entropy and superactivation of the classical capacity of quantum multiple access channels

We study subadditivity of the minimum output entropy ($H_{min}$) of quantum multiple access channels (MACs). We provide an example of violation of the additivity theorem for $H_{min}$ known in classical information theory. Our result is based on a fundamental property of $MACs$ i.e. independence of each sender. The channels used in the example can be constructed explicitly. On the basis of subadditivity of $H_{min}$ we also provide an example of extremal superadditivity (super activation) of the classical capacity region of MACs.

Classical Communication Over a Quantum Interference Channel

Calculating the capacity of interference channels is a notorious open problem in classical information theory. Such channels have two senders and two receivers, and each sender would like to communicate with a partner receiver. The capacity of such channels is known exactly in the settings of "very strong" and "strong" interference, while the Han-Kobayashi coding strategy gives the best known achievable rate region in the general case. Here, we introduce and study the quantum interference channel, a natural generalization of the interference channel to the setting of quantum information theory. We restrict ourselves for the most part to channels with two classical inputs and two quantum outputs in order to simplify the presentation of our results (though generalizations of our results to channels with quantum inputs are straightforward). We are able to determine the exact classical capacity of this channel in the settings of "very strong" and "strong" interference, by exploiting Winter's successive decoding strategy and a novel two-sender quantum simultaneous decoder, respectively. We provide a proof that a Han-Kobayashi strategy is achievable with Holevo information rates, up to a conjecture regarding the existence of a three-sender quantum simultaneous decoder. This conjecture holds for a special class of quantum multiple access channels with average output states that commute, and we discuss some other variations of the conjecture that hold. Finally, we detail a connection between the quantum interference channel and prior work on the capacity of bipartite unitary gates.

Nonadditivity of quantum and classical capacities for entanglement breaking multiple-access channels and the butterfly network

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.

Purely Quantum Superadditivity of Classical Capacities of Quantum Multiple Access Channels

We are studying classical capacities of quantum memoryless multiaccess channels in geometric terms and we are revealing a break of additivity of the Holevo-like capacity. This effect is a purely quantum mechanical one, since, as we point out, the capacity regions of all classical memoryless multiaccess channels are additive. It is the first such effect revealed in the field of classical information transmission via quantum channels.

Entanglement-Assisted Capacity of Quantum Multiple-Access Channels

We find a regularized formula for the entanglement-assisted (EA) capacity region for quantum multiple-access channels (QMAC). We illustrate the capacity region calculation with the example of the collective phase-flip channel which admits a single-letter characterization. On the way, we provide a first-principles proof of the EA coding theorem based on a packing argument. We observe that the Holevo-Schumacher-Westmoreland theorem may be obtained from a modification of our EA protocol. We remark on the existence of a family hierarchy of protocols for multiparty scenarios with a single receiver, in analogy to the two-party case. In this way, we relate several previous results regarding QMACs.

Quantum State Merging and Negative Information

We consider a quantum state shared between many distant locations, and define a quantum information processing primitive, state merging, that optimally merges the state into one location. As announced in [Horodecki, Oppenheim, Winter, Nature 436, 673 (2005)], the optimal entanglement cost of this task is the conditional entropy if classical communication is free. Since this quantity can be negative, and the state merging rate measures partial quantum information, we find that quantum information can be negative. The classical communication rate also has a minimum rate: a certain quantum mutual information. State merging enabled one to solve a number of open problems: distributed quantum data compression, quantum coding with side information at the decoder and sender, multi-party entanglement of assistance, and the capacity of the quantum multiple access channel. It also provides an operational proof of strong subadditivity. Here, we give precise definitions and prove these results rigorously.

Capacity theorems for quantum multiple-access channels: classical-quantum and quantum-quantum capacity regions

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> We consider quantum channels with two senders and one receiver. For an arbitrary such channel, we give multiletter characterizations of two different two-dimensional capacity regions. The first region comprises the rates at which it is possible for one sender to send classical information, while the other sends quantum information. The second region consists of the rates at which each sender can send quantum information. For each region, we give an example of a channel for which the corresponding region has a single-letter description. One of our examples relies on a new result proved here, perhaps of independent interest, stating that the coherent information over any degradable channel is concave in the input density operator. We conclude with connections to other work and a discussion on generalizations where each user simultaneously sends classical and quantum information. </para>

A Strong Converse Theorem for Quantum Multiple Access Channels

Abstract With the wringing technique developed by the first author for classical multiple access channels we show that the strong converse theorem holds also for quantum multiple access channels, if classical messages are transmitted.

Multiaccess Quantum Channels

Shared communication channels are subject to multiple-access interference. Transmitter and receiver design techniques that explicitly deal with this interference have been shown to improve substantially the performance of communication systems over radio-frequency and other "classical" channels. Quantum multiple-access communication channels, on the other hand, have received comparatively little attention. In this paper, an input-output model for multiple-access quantum channels relevant to optical communications is proposed. The model accounts for multiaccess interference, signal attenuation, and random noise, and can be used in the analysis and design of communication systems. Using a result from optimization, a perturbation method is developed to find the minimum achievable error probability in small-interference channels. It is shown that the quantum measurement that minimizes the error probability in a no-interference channel is robust in the presence of small multiaccess interference. The results are illustrated with numerical examples, which show that optimal quantum detectors can significantly outperform conventional detectors even for moderate levels of crosstalk.