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arXiv:2610.03580

From Symmetry to Secrecy: Covariant Classical--Quantum Wiretap Channels

Masahito Hayashi, Farzin Salek

quant-phcs.ITSubmitted Oct 2, 2026• Announced Oct 5, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

For classical--quantum wiretap channels with a transitive covariant input action, both output ensembles admit a description as unitary group orbits of fixed seed states. We use this structure to construct finite-block preprocessing schemes whose private information is an entropy difference evaluated at two distributions related by group convolution. Applying the construction to product groups allows correlations across any fixed number of channel uses. We give a sufficient condition for the associated uniform-input bound to equal the single-use private information. Constant-composition channel codes and universal$_2$ hashing achieve the resulting rates, with trace-distance leakage controlled by sandwiched Rényi information. For uniform outer randomization, the representation structure reduces the comparison-state optimization to Eve's invariant states. For the hybrid binary channel considered by Tikku, Berta and Renes, numerical optimization at three and four uses gives rates above our numerical estimate of the optimized noisy-repetition benchmark wherever that estimate is positive on the tested grid. The improvement comes from noise distributions beyond the family of independent physical flips and a symmetric logical flip. We also prove nonadditivity at an explicit channel parameter using a two-use encoder, an analytic single-use converse, and certified entropy bounds. Finally, we relate the hybrid model to binary phase-shift keying with a fixed receiver measurement.

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From Permutation Symmetry to Communication Bounds and Additivity

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Optimal learning of covariant quantum states and channels

Satoshi Yoshida, Kazuki Okigami, Pietro M. Posta +1 more

We give collective tomography protocols for quantum states and channels with known symmetries, using random purification and dilation to reduce learning to pure-state estimation. For states commuting with a compact-group representation with multiplicities $m_λ$, the optimal copy complexity is $Θ((\sum_λm_λ^2+\logη^{-1})/\varepsilon^2)$ for sufficiently small trace-distance error $\varepsilon$ and failure probability $η$ for the nontrivial case $\sum_λm_λ^2>1$. For $G$-covariant channels with finite-dimensional unitary representations of a compact group $G$, parallel $\widetilde{O}(D_G/\varepsilon^2)$ queries achieve a diamond-distance error $\varepsilon $ at fixed success probability $2/3$, where $D_G$ counts the real parameters of covariant Choi operators before imposing trace preservation. For permutation-covariant channels on $k$ qudits of fixed local dimension $d$, at sufficiently small fixed error and fixed success probability $2/3$, we obtain the optimal query scalings $Θ_d(k^{d^4-1})$ for diamond distance and $Θ_d(k^{d^4-d^2})$ for Choi trace distance. Furthermore, we resolve an open problem in quantum tomography of constructing efficient quantum circuits that approximate the Hayashi measurement for optimal pure-state estimation. We encode states in the symmetric subspace into bosonic occupation modes, realize the measurement by heterodyne detection and normalization, and approximate this procedure on qubits using the quantum Hermite transform. Combined with our symmetry-compatible purification and dilation circuits, this yields query-optimal and gate-efficient learners of permutation-covariant states and channels with gate complexity $O_d(\mathrm{poly}(k,\varepsilon^{-1},\logη^{-1}))$.

quant-pharXiv:2609.39280•Oct 1, 2026•0 citations

Coupling Structure Determines Communication Regimes in Discrete Quantum Convolutional Channels

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quant-pharXiv:2609.16200•Aug 3, 2026•0 citations

Quantum Wiretap Channel Coding Assisted by Noisy Correlation

Minglai Cai, Andreas Winter

We consider the private classical capacity of a quantum wiretap channel, where the users (sender Alice, receiver Bob, and eavesdropper Eve) have access to the resource of a shared quantum state, additionally to their channel inputs and outputs. An extreme case is maximal entanglement or a secret key between Alice and Bob, both of which would allow for one-time padding the message. But here both the wiretap channel and the shared state are general. In the other extreme case that the state is trivial, we recover the wiretap channel and its private capacity [N. Cai, A. Winter and R. W. Yeung, Probl. Inform. Transm. 40(4):318-336, 2004]. We show how to use the given resource state to build a code for secret classical communication. Our main result is a lower bound on the assisted private capacity, which asymptotically meets the multi-letter converse and which encompasses all sorts of previous results as special cases.

arXiv:2402.13194•IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT)•Jul 7, 2024•2 citations

An exponential strong converse for private communication over degradable quantum channels

Mark M. Wilde

We prove an exponential strong converse for the unassisted private capacity of every finite-dimensional degradable quantum channel. We use a single error criterion: the infidelity between the actual message-estimate-environment state and an ideal state consisting of uniformly distributed, perfectly correlated messages that are independent of the environment. At every rate strictly above the channel's maximum coherent information, the optimized fidelity to this ideal state decays exponentially in the number of channel uses. The same bound holds when the ideal environment state is fixed to the actual environment marginal. The proof applies to arbitrary mixed-state encoders and arbitrary collective decoders. Its main operator ingredient is an overlap bound for privacy tests: two receiver placements with a common subsystem of dimension $d_C$ have overlap at most $d_C/M$, where $M$ is the key size, independently of both shield dimensions. We combine this bound with the signed averaging construction presented in arXiv:2608.01308 and a single-filter reduction to symmetric states. A Gaussian filter replaces the common receiver subsystem by a system of controlled dimension from which the original correlations can be approximately recovered using quantum side information. The filter preserves exact exchange symmetry, and a uniform smooth-entropy estimate bounds its output dimension for arbitrary correlated channel inputs. We also obtain an exponential strong converse at zero for antidegradable channels under the same joint criterion and, consequently, for the private capacity of the quantum erasure channel throughout its parameter range.

quant-pharXiv:2609.32515•Sep 29, 2026•0 citations
For classical--quantum wiretap channels with a transitive covariant input action, both output ensembles admit a description as unitary group orbits of fixed seed states. We use this structure to construct finite-block preprocessing schemes whose private information is an entropy difference evaluated at two distributions related by group convolution. Applying the construction to product groups allows correlations across any fixed number of channel uses. We give a sufficient condition for the associated uniform-input bound to equal the single-use private information. Constant-composition channel codes and universal2_22​ hashing achieve the resulting rates, with trace-distance leakage controlled by sandwiched Rényi information. For uniform outer randomization, the representation structure reduces the comparison-state optimization to Eve's invariant states. For the hybrid binary channel considered by Tikku, Berta and Renes, numerical optimization at three and four uses gives rates above our numerical estimate of the optimized noisy-repetition benchmark wherever that estimate is positive on the tested grid. The improvement comes from noise distributions beyond the family of independent physical flips and a symmetric logical flip. We also prove nonadditivity at an explicit channel parameter using a two-use encoder, an analytic single-use converse, and certified entropy bounds. Finally, we relate the hybrid model to binary phase-shift keying with a fixed receiver measurement.
We develop and analyze an entropic descent method for a nonconvex optimization problem on probability simplices arising in classical and quantum secure communication. The optimization variables describe a randomized encoder, allowing its input distribution and stochastic preprocessing to be optimized jointly. An exact relative-entropy identity yields a channel-independent majorization bound and an explicit mirror-descent iteration with a fixed unit step size. We establish quantitative descent, convergence of objective values, and stationarity of accumulation points on their support faces for arbitrary finite classical channels, without assuming degradedness or less noisiness. For strictly positive transition matrices, a square-root parametrization and a Kurdyka--Łojasiewicz argument establish finite length of the transformed trajectory and convergence of the entire sequence, including limits on the simplex boundary. For less-noisy channels, a restricted convex formulation admits global convergence with an explicit O(1/t)O(1/t)O(1/t) objective-error bound. We extend the relative-entropy construction to noncommuting quantum outputs and derive monotone alternating updates for covariant encoders, including correlated preprocessing over a fixed block. Numerical experiments compare the method with analytic benchmarks and constrained optimization, reveal multiple attracting values, and demonstrate strict improvements from stochastic preprocessing.
Correlations across channel uses can improve quantum communication rates, making optimization over arbitrarily large blocks a central difficulty in determining quantum capacity. We show how full permutation invariance limits this advantage for every finite-dimensional memoryless channel. The optimized coherent information per use converges to the single-use maximum and consequently attains its supremum at a finite block length. Thus finite-block superadditivity remains possible, while the asymptotic optimization reduces to a single channel use. We also establish a strong converse for pure-source entanglement generation with permutation-invariant inputs: at any fixed rate above the single-use coherent-information maximum, the fidelity tends to zero. Beyond these communication bounds, we identify a common structure underlying completely bounded norms and the sandwiched Rényi channel quantities governing discrimination against a replacer and entanglement-assisted communication. De Finetti reduction and permutation covariance yield systematic alternative proofs of their known multiplicativity and additivity results within a shared variational framework. We further show that, for permutation-invariant inputs, correlations cannot sustain an asymptotic reduction in output entropy per use below the single-use minimum. This entropy limit holds for Rényi orders greater than one and for the von Neumann entropy, extending the role of symmetry from communication bounds to the control of output entropy.
We give collective tomography protocols for quantum states and channels with known symmetries, using random purification and dilation to reduce learning to pure-state estimation. For states commuting with a compact-group representation with multiplicities mλm_λmλ​, the optimal copy complexity is Θ((∑λmλ2+log⁡η−1)/ε2)Θ((\sum_λm_λ^2+\logη^{-1})/\varepsilon^2)Θ((∑λ​mλ2​+logη−1)/ε2) for sufficiently small trace-distance error ε\varepsilonε and failure probability ηηη for the nontrivial case ∑λmλ2>1\sum_λm_λ^2>1∑λ​mλ2​>1. For GGG-covariant channels with finite-dimensional unitary representations of a compact group GGG, parallel O~(DG/ε2)\widetilde{O}(D_G/\varepsilon^2)O(DG​/ε2) queries achieve a diamond-distance error $\varepsilon $ at fixed success probability 2/32/32/3, where DGD_GDG​ counts the real parameters of covariant Choi operators before imposing trace preservation. For permutation-covariant channels on kkk qudits of fixed local dimension ddd, at sufficiently small fixed error and fixed success probability 2/32/32/3, we obtain the optimal query scalings Θd(kd4−1)Θ_d(k^{d^4-1})Θd​(kd4−1) for diamond distance and Θd(kd4−d2)Θ_d(k^{d^4-d^2})Θd​(kd4−d2) for Choi trace distance. Furthermore, we resolve an open problem in quantum tomography of constructing efficient quantum circuits that approximate the Hayashi measurement for optimal pure-state estimation. We encode states in the symmetric subspace into bosonic occupation modes, realize the measurement by heterodyne detection and normalization, and approximate this procedure on qubits using the quantum Hermite transform. Combined with our symmetry-compatible purification and dilation circuits, this yields query-optimal and gate-efficient learners of permutation-covariant states and channels with gate complexity Od(poly(k,ε−1,log⁡η−1))O_d(\mathrm{poly}(k,\varepsilon^{-1},\logη^{-1}))Od​(poly(k,ε−1,logη−1)).
We study the recently developed theory of quantum convolution for discrete-variable quantum systems. We classify the discrete quantum convolutional channels generated by an invertible 2×22\times22×2 coupling matrix and a fixed environmental state according to which entries of the coupling ma- trix vanish. Under role-preserving basis relabelings, matrices with all four entries nonzero form d−2d-2d−2 canonical cross-ratio classes, whereas matrices with exactly one vanishing entry split into four inequivalent branches. We determine the optimized one-shot Holevo information and the classical, quantum, and private capacities for all four one-entry-vanishing branches. If a diago- nal entry vanishes, the channel is an entanglement-breaking measure-and-prepare orbit channel: its classical capacity equals a relative entropy coherence of the environmental state, whereas its quantum and private capacities vanish. If an off-diagonal entry vanishes, the channel is a degradable generalized-dephasing channel: one complete orthonormal basis is transmitted without error, whereas the quantum and private capacities are determined by the entropy deficit of the environ-ental state after dephasing in the conjugate basis. Thus, the position of a single vanishing entry selects two qualitatively different communication regimes. When all four entries are nonzero, the channels are irreducibly Weyl covariant, reducing the classical-capacity problem to a regularized minimum-output-entropy problem. For the unique fully nonzero coupling class in the single-qutrit case, we further derive an exact Holevo formula for a depolarized one-parameter family and identify its entanglement-breaking threshold.
We consider the private classical capacity of a quantum wiretap channel, where the users (sender Alice, receiver Bob, and eavesdropper Eve) have access to the resource of a shared quantum state, additionally to their channel inputs and outputs. An extreme case is maximal entanglement or a secret key between Alice and Bob, both of which would allow for one-time padding the message. But here both the wiretap channel and the shared state are general. In the other extreme case that the state is trivial, we recover the wiretap channel and its private capacity [N. Cai, A. Winter and R. W. Yeung, Probl. Inform. Transm. 40(4):318-336, 2004]. We show how to use the given resource state to build a code for secret classical communication. Our main result is a lower bound on the assisted private capacity, which asymptotically meets the multi-letter converse and which encompasses all sorts of previous results as special cases.
We prove an exponential strong converse for the unassisted private capacity of every finite-dimensional degradable quantum channel. We use a single error criterion: the infidelity between the actual message-estimate-environment state and an ideal state consisting of uniformly distributed, perfectly correlated messages that are independent of the environment. At every rate strictly above the channel's maximum coherent information, the optimized fidelity to this ideal state decays exponentially in the number of channel uses. The same bound holds when the ideal environment state is fixed to the actual environment marginal. The proof applies to arbitrary mixed-state encoders and arbitrary collective decoders. Its main operator ingredient is an overlap bound for privacy tests: two receiver placements with a common subsystem of dimension dCd_CdC​ have overlap at most dC/Md_C/MdC​/M, where MMM is the key size, independently of both shield dimensions. We combine this bound with the signed averaging construction presented in arXiv:2608.01308 and a single-filter reduction to symmetric states. A Gaussian filter replaces the common receiver subsystem by a system of controlled dimension from which the original correlations can be approximately recovered using quantum side information. The filter preserves exact exchange symmetry, and a uniform smooth-entropy estimate bounds its output dimension for arbitrary correlated channel inputs. We also obtain an exponential strong converse at zero for antidegradable channels under the same joint criterion and, consequently, for the private capacity of the quantum erasure channel throughout its parameter range.