The entanglement-assisted capacity of a quantum channel admits an additive single-letter characterization, implying that joint encodings across channel uses cannot increase the ultimate communication rate. Here, we show that this additive picture does not extend to communication reliability. Specifically, we prove that the Petz-Rényi channel information can be strictly superadditive for every
α∈[1/2,1), yielding a genuine multi-copy enhancement of the entanglement-assisted random-coding error exponent, even though the entanglement-assisted capacity remains additive. We establish this phenomenon analytically already for measurement channels, which are entanglement-breaking and have additive unassisted capacity. Remarkably, this strict superadditivity is witnessed by a separable, classically correlated two-copy channel-input marginal, demonstrating that no entanglement between the transmitted systems is required. Our results show that, although correlations across channel uses cannot increase the ultimate rate of entanglement-assisted communication, they can enhance its reliability.
Finding the optimal encoding strategies can be challenging for communication using quantum channels, as classical and quantum capacities may be superadditive. Entanglement assistance can often simplify this task, as the entanglement-assisted classical capacity for any channel is additive, making entanglement across channel uses unnecessary. If the entanglement assistance is limited, the picture is much more unclear. Suppose the classical capacity is superadditive, then the classical capacity with limited entanglement assistance could retain superadditivity by continuity arguments. If the classical capacity is additive, it is unknown if superadditivity can still be developed with limited entanglement assistance. We show this is possible, by providing an example. We construct a channel for which the classical capacity is additive, but that with limited entanglement assistance can be superadditive. This shows entanglement plays a weird role in communication, and we still understand very little about it.
Entanglement-induced nonadditivity of classical communication capacity in networks consisting of quantum channels is considered. Communication lattices consisting of butterfly-type entanglement-breaking channels augmented, with some probability, by identity channels are analyzed. The capacity superadditivity in the network is manifested in directed correlated bond percolation which we consider in two flavors: simply directed and randomly oriented. The obtained percolation properties show that high-capacity information transfer sets in much faster in the regime of superadditive communication capacity than otherwise possible. As a by-product, this sheds light on a type of entanglement-based quantum capacity percolation phenomenon.