A fundamental limitation of quantum communication is that a single qubit can carry at most 1 bit of classical information. For an important class of quantum communication channels, known as entanglement-breaking, this limitation holds even if the sender and receiver share entangled particles. But does this mean that, for the purpose of communicating classical messages, a noisy entanglement-breaking qubit channel can be replaced by a noisy bit channel? Here we answer the question in the negative. We introduce a game, similar to the Monty Hall problem in classical statistics, where a sender assists a receiver in finding a valuable item (the prize) hidden into one of four possible boxes, while avoiding a hazardous item (the bomb) hidden in one of the remaining three boxes. We show that no classical strategy using a noisy bit channel can ensure that the bomb is avoided, even if the sender and receiver share arbitrary amounts of randomness. In contrast, communication of a qubit through a class of noisy entanglement-breaking channels, which we call quantum NOT channels, allows the players to deterministically avoid the bomb and to find the prize with a guaranteed nonzero probability. Our findings show that the communication of classical messages through a noisy entanglement-breaking qubit channel assisted by quantum entanglement cannot, in general, be simulated by communication through a noisy bit channel assisted by classical correlations.
A fundamental limitation of quantum communication is that a single qubit can carry at most 1 bit of classical information. For an important class of quantum communication channels, known as entanglement-breaking, this limitation holds even if the sender and receiver share entangled particles. But does this mean that, for the purpose of communicating classical messages, a noisy entanglement-breaking qubit channel can be replaced by a noisy bit channel? Here we answer the question in the negative. We introduce a game, similar to the Monty Hall problem in classical statistics, where a sender assists a receiver in finding a valuable item (the prize) hidden into one of four possible boxes, while avoiding a hazardous item (the bomb) hidden in one of the remaining three boxes. We show that no classical strategy using a noisy bit channel can ensure that the bomb is avoided, even if the sender and receiver share arbitrary amounts of randomness. In contrast, communication of a qubit through a class of noisy entanglement-breaking channels, which we call quantum NOT channels, allows the players to deterministically avoid the bomb and to find the prize with a guaranteed nonzero probability. Our findings show that the communication of classical messages through a noisy entanglement-breaking qubit channel assisted by quantum entanglement cannot, in general, be simulated by communication through a noisy bit channel assisted by classical correlations.
A fundamental limitation of quantum communication is that a single qubit can carry at most one bit of classical information. For an important class of quantum communication channels, known as entanglement breaking, this limitation holds even if the sender and receiver share entangled particles. But does this mean that, for the purpose of communicating classical messages, a noisy entanglement-breaking qubit channel can be replaced by a noisy bit channel? Here we answer the question in the negative. We introduce a game, similar to the Monty Hall problem in classical statistics, where a sender assists a receiver in finding a valuable item (the "prize") hidden in one of four possible boxes, while avoiding a hazardous item (the "bomb") hidden in one of the remaining three boxes. We show that no classical strategy using a noisy bit channel can ensure that the bomb is avoided, even if the sender and receiver share arbitrary amounts of randomness. In contrast, communication of a qubit through a class of noisy entanglement-breaking channels, which we call quantum not channels, allows the players to deterministically avoid the bomb and to find the prize with a guaranteed nonzero probability. Our findings show that the communication of classical messages through a noisy entanglement-breaking qubit channel assisted by quantum entanglement cannot, in general, be simulated by communication through a noisy bit channel assisted by classical correlations.
We introduce the task of random-receiver quantum communication, in which a sender transmits a quantum message to a receiver selected from a list of n spatially separated parties.At the moment of transmission, the choice of receiver is unknown to the sender.Later, it becomes known to the n parties, who coordinate their actions by exchanging classical messages.In normal conditions, random-receiver quantum communication requires a noiseless quantum communication channel between the sender and each of the n receivers.In contrast, we show that random-receiver quantum communication can take place through noisy, entanglement-breaking channels if the order of such channels is coherently controlled by a quantum bit that is accessible through measurements.While this phenomenon is achieved with a single control qubit, it cannot be mimicked by adding a noiseless qubit channel from the sender to any of the receivers, or more generally, from the sender to any subset of k < n parties.
We investigate the quantum advantage that can arise in typical two-party communication scenarios, where the sender and the receiver are allowed to share prior correlations. Focusing on communication tasks constrained by the distinguishability of the sender's inputs, we demonstrate that entanglement-assisted communication with both classical and quantum message can outperform classical communication supplemented with shared randomness. We begin by developing a general framework for communication tasks with pre-shared correlations. Within this framework, we establish an equivalence among entanglement-assisted classical communication, entanglement-assisted quantum communication, and quantum communication, showing that no hierarchy exists between these three paradigms. We then investigate the scenario where the receiver has no input and prove that no advantage can arise in this case. However, an advantage in the entanglement-assisted setting emerges once additional constraints are imposed on the dimension of the communicated message. This further highlights the superiority of entanglement-assisted classical communication over standard quantum communication. Then we demonstrate several tasks where the entanglement-assisted protocol using one-bit communication proves to be advantageous over classical communication. Finally, by constructing an explicit class of communication tasks, we show that a non-maximally entangled states outperform the maximally entangled state as a pre-shared resource between the communicating parties.
We analyze utility of communication channels in absence of any short of quantum or classical correlation shared between the sender and the receiver. To this aim, we propose a class of two-party communication games, and show that the games cannot be won given a noiseless 1 -bit classical channel from the sender to the receiver. Interestingly, the goal can be perfectly achieved if the channel is assisted with classical shared randomness. This resembles an advantage similar to the quantum superdense coding phenomenon where pre-shared entanglement can enhance the communication utility of a perfect quantum communication line. Quite surprisingly, we show that a qubit communication without any assistance of classical shared randomness can achieve the goal, and hence establishes a novel quantum advantage in the simplest communication scenario. In pursuit of a deeper origin of this advantage, we show that an advantageous quantum strategy must invoke quantum interference both at the encoding step by the sender and at the decoding step by the receiver. We also study communication utility of a class of non-classical toy systems described by symmetric polygonal state spaces. We come up with communication tasks that can be achieved neither with 1 -bit of classical communication nor by communicating a polygon system, whereas 1 -qubit communication yields a perfect strategy, establishing quantum advantage over them. To this end, we show that the quantum advantages are robust against imperfect encodings-decodings, making the protocols implementable with presently available quantum technologies.
Abstract Can quantum processes be simulated using only classical resources? This question delineates the boundary between classical and quantum models and clarifies the origin of quantum advantage in information processing. We address this question through the task of quantum channel simulation, where a sender (Alice) holds the classical description of a quantum state and wishes to transmit it to a receiver (Bob) for measurement. Prior work has shown that, for qubit channels, 2 bits of forward communication with shared randomness suffice to reproduce the statistics of any single-qubit measurement. We argue, however, that true channel simulation requires reproducing statistics of joint measurements—including entangled effects—on Alice’s state and an auxiliary system held by Bob. Such scenarios naturally arise in network communication, where some nodes know the state, while others do not. We prove that a perfect qubit channel cannot be simulated with any finite amount of classical communication, even using the most general multi-round, bidirectional protocols. We further show that this no-go result is rooted in the necessity of reproducing statistics associated with entangled effects. On the other hand, we show that noisy qubit channels, such as depolarizing channels, admit classical simulation, though the required communication diverges as noise decreases.
A quantum system of any fixed dimension can be prepared in a continuum of states, yet it cannot be used to transmit an unlimited amount of classical information. Similarly, the correlations observed between measurement outcomes on separate parts of a shared quantum system can be stronger than classical correlations, but they cannot transmit information. These fundamental limitations suggest that the statistics observed from quantum communication and quantum correlations may admit a simulation using a finite amount of classical communication. This expectation is confirmed in the smallest nontrivial quantum dimension, with two classical bits being necessary and sufficient to exactly simulate qubit communication and all correlations between qubits. Despite significant efforts during the previous decades, this remained the only solved case. Here we resolve both problems for every quantum dimension. The solution reveals an unexpected qualitative transition starting at dimension four: no finite amount of classical communication can exactly simulate ququart communication nor all quantum correlations of two entangled ququarts, even with unlimited shared randomness. One might have expected this transition, if it existed, to appear already for qutrits. Instead, we construct an explicit protocol that exactly simulates qutrit communication using 357 classical bits, and consequently, all correlations of two entangled qutrits.