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arXiv:1607.05262

On the minimum output entropy of single-mode phase-insensitive Gaussian channels

Haoyu Qi, Mark M. Wilde, Saikat Guha

Published Jul 18, 2016• 7 citations
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Abstract

Recently de Palma et al. [IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 63, 728 (2017)] proved---using Lagrange multiplier techniques---that under a non-zero input entropy constraint, a thermal state input minimizes the output entropy of a pure-loss bosonic channel. In this note, we present our attempt to generalize this result to all single-mode gauge-covariant Gaussian channels by using similar techniques. Unlike the case of the pure-loss channel, we cannot prove that the thermal input state is the only local extremum of the optimization problem. %It is unclear to us why the same techniques do not lead to a proof for amplifier channels. However, we do prove that, if the conjecture holds for gauge-covariant Gaussian channels, it would also hold for gauge-contravariant Gaussian channels. The truth of the latter leads to a solution of the triple trade-off and broadcast capacities of quantum-limited amplifier channels. We note that de Palma et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 160503 (2017)] have now proven the conjecture for all single-mode gauge-covariant Gaussian channels by employing a different approach from what we outline here. Proving a multi-mode generalization of de Palma et al.'s above mentioned result---i.e., given a lower bound on the von Neumann entropy of the input to an $n$-mode lossy thermal-noise bosonic channel, an $n$-mode product thermal state input minimizes the output entropy---will establish an important special case of the conjectured Entropy Photon-number Inequality (EPnI). The EPnI, if proven true, would take on a role analogous to Shannon's EPI in proving coding theorem converses involving quantum limits of classical communication over bosonic channels.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1607.05262

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Recently de Palma et al. [IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 63, 728 (2017)] proved---using Lagrange multiplier techniques---that under a non-zero input entropy constraint, a thermal state input minimizes the output entropy of a pure-loss bosonic channel. In this note, we present our attempt to generalize this result to all single-mode gauge-covariant Gaussian channels by using similar techniques. Unlike the case of the pure-loss channel, we cannot prove that the thermal input state is the only local extremum of the optimization problem. %It is unclear to us why the same techniques do not lead to a proof for amplifier channels. However, we do prove that, if the conjecture holds for gauge-covariant Gaussian channels, it would also hold for gauge-contravariant Gaussian channels. The truth of the latter leads to a solution of the triple trade-off and broadcast capacities of quantum-limited amplifier channels. We note that de Palma et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 160503 (2017)] have now proven the conjecture for all single-mode gauge-covariant Gaussian channels by employing a different approach from what we outline here. Proving a multi-mode generalization of de Palma et al.'s above mentioned result---i.e., given a lower bound on the von Neumann entropy of the input to an nnn-mode lossy thermal-noise bosonic channel, an nnn-mode product thermal state input minimizes the output entropy---will establish an important special case of the conjectured Entropy Photon-number Inequality (EPnI). The EPnI, if proven true, would take on a role analogous to Shannon's EPI in proving coding theorem converses involving quantum limits of classical communication over bosonic channels.
We prove the long-standing conjecture stating that Gaussian thermal input states minimize the output von Neumann entropy of one-mode phase-covariant quantum Gaussian channels among all the input states with a given entropy. Phase-covariant quantum Gaussian channels model the attenuation and the noise that affect any electromagnetic signal in the quantum regime. Our result is crucial to prove the converse theorems for both the triple trade-off region and the capacity region for broadcast communication of the Gaussian quantum-limited amplifier. Our result extends to the quantum regime the entropy power inequality that plays a key role in classical information theory. Our proof exploits a completely new technique based on the recent determination of the p→q norms of the quantum-limited amplifier [De Palma et al., arXiv:1610.09967]. This technique can be applied to any quantum channel.
We prove in the multimode scenario a fundamental relation between the Wehrl and the von Neumann entropy, stating that the minimum Wehrl entropy among all the quantum states with a given von Neumann entropy is achieved by thermal Gaussian states. We also prove that thermal Gaussian input states minimize the output von Neumann entropy of multimode quantum Gaussian attenuators, amplifiers and phase-contravariant channels among all the input states diagonal in some product basis and with a given entropy. This result constitutes a major step towards the proof of the same property for generic input states, which is still an open conjecture. This conjecture is necessary to determine the maximum communication rates for the triple trade-off coding and broadcast communication with the Gaussian quantum-limited attenuator. Finally, we prove that the tensor product of n identical geometric input probability distributions minimizes the output Shannon entropy of the n-mode thinning among all the input probability distributions with a given entropy.
We prove that quantum thermal Gaussian input states minimize the output entropy of the multi-mode quantum Gaussian attenuators and amplifiers that are entanglement breaking and of the multi-mode quantum Gaussian phase contravariant channels among all the input states with an given entropy. This is the first time that this property is proven for a multi-mode channel without restrictions on the input states. A striking consequence of this result is a new lower bound on the output entropy of all the multi-mode quantum Gaussian attenuators and amplifiers in terms of the input entropy. We apply this bound to determine new upper bounds to the communication rates in two different scenarios. The first is classical communication to two receivers with the quantum degraded Gaussian broadcast channel. The second is the simultaneous classical communication, quantum communication and entanglement generation or the simultaneous public classical communication, private classical communication, and quantum key distribution with the Gaussian quantum-limited attenuator.
We prove that Gaussian thermal input states minimize the output von Neumann entropy of the one-mode Gaussian quantum-limited attenuator for fixed input entropy. The Gaussian quantum-limited attenuator models the attenuation of an electromagnetic signal in the quantum regime. The Shannon entropy of an attenuated real-valued classical signal is a simple function of the entropy of the original signal. A striking consequence of energy quantization is that the output von Neumann entropy of the quantum-limited attenuator is no more a function of the input entropy alone. The proof starts from the majorization result of De Palma et al., IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 62, 2895 (2016), and is based on a new isoperimetric inequality. Our result implies that geometric input probability distributions minimize the output Shannon entropy of the thinning for fixed input entropy. Moreover, our result opens the way to the multimode generalization that permits to determine both the triple tradeoff region of the Gaussian quantum-limited attenuator and the classical capacity region of the Gaussian degraded quantum broadcast channel.
The additivity of the minimal output entropy and that of the χ-capacity are known to be equivalent for finite-dimensional irreducibly covariant quantum channels. In this paper, we formulate a list of conditions allowing to establish similar equivalence for infinite-dimensional covariant channels with constrained input. This is then applied to bosonic Gaussian channels with quadratic input constraint to extend the classical capacity results of the recent paper [Giovannetti et al., Commun. Math. Phys. 334(3), 1553-1571 (2015)] to the case where the complex structures associated with the channel and with the constraint operator need not commute. In particular, this implies a multimode generalization of the “threshold condition,” obtained for single mode in Schäfer et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 030503 (2013)], and the proof of the fact that under this condition the classical “Gaussian capacity” resulting from optimization over only Gaussian inputs is equal to the full classical capacity. Complex structures correspond to different squeezings, each with its own normal modes, vacuum and coherent states, and the gauge. Thus our results apply, e.g., to multimode channels with a squeezed Gaussian noise under the standard input energy constraint, provided the squeezing is not too large as to violate the generalized threshold condition. We also investigate the restrictiveness of the gauge-covariance condition for single- and multimode bosonic Gaussian channels.
We prove Gaussian optimality for the energy-constrained one-shot Holevo capacity of single-mode bosonic Gaussian channels, including phase-sensitive channels with arbitrarily squeezed thermal noise. The unresolved regime is the low energy branch, where the Gaussian optimizer modulates only one quadrature and minimum-output-entropy arguments cannot decouple the average state from the letters. For pure one-mode dilations we retain a stronger pointwise result: moment-matched Gaussianization improves the fixed average Holevo function for every input. For mixed environments, whose purification produces a 1:2 entanglement-of-formation problem, we avoid any generic 1:2 Gaussian extremality conjecture. The optimal Gaussian letter selects an effective environmental Schmidt mode and an affine two-mode EPR witness. Its null direction is exactly the modulated quadrature, while its slope equals the negative derivative of the Gaussian letter-output entropy. This produces a supporting lower bound on the dilated entanglement of formation; Gaussian maximum entropy and concavity then give a global upper bound tangent at the Gaussian optimizer. Consequently the known Gaussian formulas for attenuating, amplifying, phase-conjugating, and additive-noise fiducial channels are exact over unrestricted ensembles at every input energy. Via the passive-input fiducial decomposition and energy-constrained continuity, the result extends to every single-mode Gaussian channel, including lower-rank canonical limits. No additivity across channel uses is assumed.