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arXiv:1407.8202 · IEEE Transactions on Information Theory

Efficient Approximation of Quantum Channel Capacities

David Sutter, Tobias Sutter, Peyman Mohajerin Esfahani, Renato Renner

Published Nov 25, 2015• 28 citations
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Abstract

We propose an iterative method for approximating the capacity of classical-quantum channels with a discrete input alphabet and a finite-dimensional output under additional constraints on the input distribution. Based on duality of convex programming, we derive explicit upper and lower bounds for the capacity. To provide an additive ε-close estimate to the capacity, the presented algorithm requires O((N ν M)M3log(N)1/2ε-1) steps, where N denotes the input alphabet size and M denotes the output dimension. We then generalize the method to the task of approximating the capacity of classical-quantum channels with a bounded continuous input alphabet and a finite-dimensional output. This, using the idea of a universal encoder, allows us to approximate the Holevo capacity for channels with a finite-dimensional quantum mechanical input and output. In particular, we show that the problem of approximating the Holevo capacity can be reduced to a multi-dimensional integration problem. For certain families of quantum channels, we prove that the complexity to derive an additive ε-close solution to the Holevo capacity is subexponential or even polynomial in the problem size. We provide several examples to illustrate the performance of the approximation scheme in practice.

DOI
10.1109/tit.2015.2503755

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We propose an iterative method for approximating the capacity of classical-quantum channels with a discrete input alphabet and a finite-dimensional output under additional constraints on the input distribution. Based on duality of convex programming, we derive explicit upper and lower bounds for the capacity. To provide an additive ε-close estimate to the capacity, the presented algorithm requires O((N ν M)M3log(N)1/2ε-1) steps, where N denotes the input alphabet size and M denotes the output dimension. We then generalize the method to the task of approximating the capacity of classical-quantum channels with a bounded continuous input alphabet and a finite-dimensional output. This, using the idea of a universal encoder, allows us to approximate the Holevo capacity for channels with a finite-dimensional quantum mechanical input and output. In particular, we show that the problem of approximating the Holevo capacity can be reduced to a multi-dimensional integration problem. For certain families of quantum channels, we prove that the complexity to derive an additive ε-close solution to the Holevo capacity is subexponential or even polynomial in the problem size. We provide several examples to illustrate the performance of the approximation scheme in practice.
Based on Arimoto's work in 1978 [1], we propose an iterative algorithm for computing the capacity of a discrete memoryless classical-quantum channel with a finite input alphabet and a finite dimensional output, which we call the Blahut-Arimoto algorithm for classical-quantum channel, and an input cost constraint is considered. We show that to reach ε accuracy, the iteration complexity of the algorithm is up bounded by log n log ε ε where n is the size of the input alphabet. In particular, when the output state {ρx}x∈Xis linearly independent in complex matrix space, the algorithm has a geometric convergence. We also show that the algorithm reaches an ε accurate solution with a complexity of O(m3log n log ε/ε), and O(m3log ε log(1-δ)D(ε/p*||pN(0))) in the special case, where m is the output dimension and D(p*||pN(0)) is the relative entropy of two distributions and δ is a positive number.
Based on Arimoto’s work in 1972, we propose an iterative algorithm for computing the capacity of a discrete memoryless classical-quantum channel with a finite input alphabet and a finite dimensional output, which we call the Blahut–Arimoto algorithm for classical-quantum channel, and an input cost constraint is considered. We show that, to reach ε accuracy, the iteration complexity of the algorithm is upper bounded by log n log ε ε where n is the size of the input alphabet. In particular, when the output state { ρ x } x ∈ X is linearly independent in complex matrix space, the algorithm has a geometric convergence. We also show that the algorithm reaches an ε accurate solution with a complexity of O ( m 3 log n log ε ε ) , and O ( m 3 log ε log ( 1 − δ ) ε D ( p * | | p N 0 ) ) in the special case, where m is the output dimension, D ( p * | | p N 0 ) is the relative entropy of two distributions, and δ is a positive number. Numerical experiments were performed and an approximate solution for the binary two-dimensional case was analysed.
This paper is devoted to further study of the Holevo capacity of infinite-dimensional quantum channels. The existence of a unique optimal average state for a quantum channel constrained by an arbitrary convex set of states is shown. The minimax expression for the Holevo capacity of a constrained channel is obtained. The χ\chiχ-function and the convex closure of the output entropy of an infinite-dimensional quantum channel are considered. It is shown that the χ\chiχ-function of an arbitrary channel is lower semicontinuous on the set of all states and has continuous restrictions to subsets of states with continuous output entropy. The explicit expression for the convex closure of the output entropy of an infinite-dimensional quantum channel is obtained and its properties are explored. It is shown that the convex closure of the output entropy coincides with the convex hull of the output entropy on the set of states with finite output entropy and, similarly to the χ\chiχ-function, it has continuous restrictions to subsets of states with continuous output entropy. The applications of the obtained results to the theory of entanglement are considered. The properties of the convex closure of the output entropy make it possible to generalize some results related to the additivity problem to the infinite-dimensional case.
We study quantum channels that are close to another channel with weakly additive Holevo information, and we derive upper bounds on their classical capacity. Examples of channels with weakly additive Holevo information are entanglement-breaking channels, unital qubit channels, and Hadamard channels. Related to the method of approximate degradability, we define approximation parameters for each class above, which measure how close an arbitrary channel is to satisfying the respective property. This gives us upper bounds on the classical capacity in terms of functions of the approximation parameters, as well as an outer bound on the dynamic capacity region of a quantum channel. Since these parameters are defined in terms of the diamond distance, the upper bounds can be computed efficiently using semidefinite programming (SDP). We exhibit the usefulness of our method with two example channels: a convex mixture of amplitude damping and depolarizing noise and a composition of amplitude damping and dephasing noise. For both channels, our bounds perform well in certain regimes of the noise parameters in comparison to a recently derived SDP upper bound on the classical capacity. Along the way, we define the notion of a generalized channel divergence (which includes the diamond distance as an example), and we prove that for jointly covariant channels these quantities are maximized by purifications of a state invariant under the covariance group. This latter result may be of independent interest.
We generalize alternating optimization algorithms of Blahut-Arimoto type to the quantum setting. In particular, we give iterative algorithms to compute the mutual information of quantum channels, the thermodynamic capacity of quantum channels, the coherent information of less noisy quantum channels, and the Holevo quantity of classical-quantum channels. Our convergence analysis is based on quantum entropy inequalities and leads to a priori additive ε-approximations after O (ε-1log N) iterations, where N denotes the input dimension of the channel. We complement our analysis with an a posteriori stopping criterion which allows us to terminate the algorithm after significantly fewer iterations compared to the a priori criterion in numerical examples. Finally, we discuss heuristics to accelerate the convergence.
In quantum reading, classical messages are encoded in sequences of quantum channels and recovered by probing the channels and processing their outputs. We study the reading capacity of a finite family of finite-dimensional channels under an average constraint on the probing energy, allowing arbitrary adaptive operations between channel uses. Using an input-dependent chain rule for the Belavkin-Staszewski relative entropy, we derive a converse bound expressed as an optimization involving channel Choi operators and the operator relative entropy. This formulation admits semidefinite approximations and reduces, without an energy constraint, to a channel information radius. To obtain achievable rates, we construct bilinear semidefinite lower approximations to a standard non-adaptive reading bound. Alternating optimization produces feasible probe states and encoding distributions, whose Holevo information gives a directly evaluable achievable rate. For jointly classical-quantum channels, we derive a separate converse based on the Umegaki relative entropy. Without an energy constraint, this converse matches a non-adaptive achievable rate, recovering a recent result of Pascual Abraldes and Winter: non-adaptive protocols suffice to achieve the unconstrained reading capacity of jointly classical-quantum channels.