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arXiv:2510.04527

Quantum capacity amplification via privacy

Peixue Wu, Yunkai Wang

Published Oct 6, 2025• 0 citations

Abstract

We investigate superadditivity of quantum capacity through private channels whose Choi-Jamiolkowski operators are private states. This perspective links the security structure of private states to quantum capacity and clarifies the role of the shield system: information encoded in the shield system that would otherwise leak to the environment can be recycled when paired with an assisting channel, thereby boosting capacity. Our main contributions are threefold: Firstly, we develop a general framework that provides a sufficient condition for capacity amplification, which is formulated in terms of the assisting channel's Holevo information. As examples, we give explicit, dimension and parameter dependent amplification thresholds for erasure and depolarizing channels. Secondly, assuming the Spin alignment conjecture, we derive a single-letter expression for the quantum capacity of a family of private channels that are neither degradable, anti-degradable, nor PPT; as an application, we construct channels with vanishing quantum capacity yet unbounded private capacity. Thirdly, we further analyze approximate private channels: we give an alternative proof of superactivation that extends its validity to a broader parameter regime, and, by combining amplification bounds with continuity estimates, we establish a metric separation showing that channels exhibiting capacity amplification have nonzero diamond distance from the set of anti-degradable channels, indicating that existing approximate (anti-)degradability bounds are not tight. We also revisit the computability of the regularized quantum capacity and modestly suggest that this fundamental question still remains open.

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2510.04527

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We investigate superadditivity of quantum capacity through private channels whose Choi-Jamiolkowski operators are private states. This perspective links the security structure of private states to quantum capacity and clarifies the role of the shield system: information encoded in the shield system that would otherwise leak to the environment can be recycled when paired with an assisting channel, thereby boosting capacity. Our main contributions are threefold: Firstly, we develop a general framework that provides a sufficient condition for capacity amplification, which is formulated in terms of the assisting channel's Holevo information. As examples, we give explicit, dimension and parameter dependent amplification thresholds for erasure and depolarizing channels. Secondly, assuming the Spin alignment conjecture, we derive a single-letter expression for the quantum capacity of a family of private channels that are neither degradable, anti-degradable, nor PPT; as an application, we construct channels with vanishing quantum capacity yet unbounded private capacity. Thirdly, we further analyze approximate private channels: we give an alternative proof of superactivation that extends its validity to a broader parameter regime, and, by combining amplification bounds with continuity estimates, we establish a metric separation showing that channels exhibiting capacity amplification have nonzero diamond distance from the set of anti-degradable channels, indicating that existing approximate (anti-)degradability bounds are not tight. We also revisit the computability of the regularized quantum capacity and modestly suggest that this fundamental question still remains open.

Quantum capacity exhibits intriguing phenomena such as super-activation, amplification, and super-amplification, which can be explored using constructions based on private channels. In this work, we refine the connection between private channels and additivity questions in quantum channel capacity. Specifically, the shield system, which safeguards the key system's privacy by leaking quantum information, can recover some of this lost information when paired with an auxiliary channel like the erasure channel

\mathcal{E}_{p}

, thereby enhancing overall capacity. Building on this insight, we construct new and simple examples of super-amplification for the erasure channel

\mathcal{E}_{p}

with any erasure probability

p

. In addition, we provide a refined version of the Smith-Yard argument that also applies for arbitrary

p

. Finally, we revisit the fundamental question of whether regularization in channel capacity formulas requires infinitely many channel uses, showing that the necessary number may instead depend on the channel's dimension.

Superadditivity of quantum capacity of communication channels is one of the most interesting findings of the field. Yard and Smith, finding a relation between the private capacity and the assisted quantum capacity, showed a striking example of superadditivity, i.e. two channels of zero quantum capacity could achieve a positive quantum capacity when used together [1]. The four dimensional channels they used are a 50% erasure channel (therefore zero quantum capacity, due to no-cloning theorem) and a Horodecki channel (again zero quantum capacity due to incapability of sharing free entanglement). In this work we present the more general cases of superadditivity. Directly calculating the lower bounds of joint quantum capacities without using the relation between private capacity and assisted quantum capacity, we examine scenarios considering erasure channels of arbitrary probabilities and different Horodecki channels, and discuss the roles of degradability and anti-degradability as well as the role of the private capacity in superadditivity. We also derive an upper bound for the joint quantum capacity for the superactivation case.

We determine both the quantum and the private capacities of low-noise quantum channels to leading orders in the channel's distance to the perfect channel. It has been an open problem for more than 20 yr to determine the capacities of some of these low-noise channels such as the depolarizing channel. We also show that both capacities are equal to the single-letter coherent information of the channel, again to leading orders. We thus find that, in the low-noise regime, superadditivity and degenerate codes have a negligible benefit for the quantum capacity, and shielding does not improve the private capacity beyond the quantum capacity, in stark contrast to the situation when noisier channels are considered.

The quantum capacity of a quantum channel is always smaller than the capacity of the channel for private communication. However, both quantities are given by the infinite regularization of respectively the coherent and the private information. Here, we construct a family of channels for which the private and coherent information can remain strictly superadditive for unbounded number of uses. We prove this by showing that the coherent information is strictly larger than the private information of a smaller number of uses of the channel. It turns out that even though the quantum capacity is upper bounded by the private capacity, the non-regularized quantities can be interleaved. From an operational point of view, the private capacity can be used for gauging the practical value of quantum channels for secure communication and, consequently, for key distribution. We thus show that in order to evaluate the interest a channel for this task it is necessary to optimize the private information over an unlimited number of uses of the channel.

The quantum capacity of a quantum channel is always smaller than the capacity of the channel for private communication. Both quantities are given by the infinite regularization of the coherent and the private information, respectively, which makes their evaluation very difficult. Here, we construct a family of channels for which the private and coherent information can remain strictly superadditive for unbounded number of uses, thus demonstrating that the regularization is necessary. We prove this by showing that the coherent information is strictly larger than the private information of a smaller number of uses of the channel. This implies that even though the quantum capacity is upper bounded by the private capacity, the nonregularized quantities can be interleaved.

Abstract I will investigate the capacities of noisy quantum channels through a combined analytical and numerical approach. First, I introduce novel flagged extension techniques that embed a channel into a higher-dimensional space, enabling single-letter upper bounds on quantum and private capacities. My results refine previous bounds and clarify noise thresholds beyond which quantum transmission vanishes. Second, I present a simulation framework that uses coherent information to estimate channel capacities in practice, focusing on two canonical examples: the amplitude damping channel (which I confirm is degradable and thus single-letter) and the depolarizing channel (whose capacity requires multi-letter superadditivity). By parameterizing input qubit states on the Bloch sphere, I numerically pinpoint the maximum coherent information for each channel and validate the flagged extension bounds. Notably, I capture the abrupt transition to zero capacity at high noise and observe superadditivity for moderate noise levels.