Quantum entanglement is known to provide a strong advantage in many two-party distributed tasks. We investigate the question of how much entanglement is needed to reach optimal performance. For the first time we show that there exists a purely classical scenario for which no finite amount of entanglement suffices. To this end we introduce a simple two-party nonlocal game H, inspired by Lucien Hardy’s paradox. In our game each player has only two possible questions and can provide bit strings of any finite length as answer. We exhibit a sequence of strategies which use entangled states in increasing dimension d and succeed with probability 1 − O(d−c ) for some c ≥ 0.13. On the other hand, we show that any strategy using an entangled state of local dimension d has success probability at most 1 − Ω(d−2 ). In addition, we show that any strategy restricted to producing answers in a set of cardinality at most d has success probability at most 1 − Ω(d−2 ). Finally, we generalize our construction to derive similar results starting from any game G with two questions per player and finite answers sets in which quantum strategies have an advantage.
Quantum entanglement is known to provide a strong advantage in many two-party distributed tasks. We investigate the question of how much entanglement is needed to reach optimal performance. For the first time we show that there exists a purely classical scenario for which no finite amount of entanglement suffices. To this end we introduce a simple two-party nonlocal game H, inspired by Lucien Hardy’s paradox. In our game each player has only two possible questions and can provide bit strings of any finite length as answer. We exhibit a sequence of strategies which use entangled states in increasing dimension d and succeed with probability 1 − O(d−c ) for some c ≥ 0.13. On the other hand, we show that any strategy using an entangled state of local dimension d has success probability at most 1 − Ω(d−2 ). In addition, we show that any strategy restricted to producing answers in a set of cardinality at most d has success probability at most 1 − Ω(d−2 ). Finally, we generalize our construction to derive similar results starting from any game G with two questions per player and finite answers sets in which quantum strategies have an advantage.
Quantum entanglement is known to provide a strong advantage in many two-party distributed tasks. We investigate the question of how much entanglement is needed to reach optimal performance. For the first time we show that there exists a purely classical scenario for which no finite amount of entanglement suffices. To this end we introduce a simple two-party nonlocal game H, inspired by Lucien Hardy's paradox. In our game each player has only two possible questions and can provide bit strings of any finite length as answer. We exhibit a sequence of strategies which use entangled states in increasing dimension d and succeed with probability 1−O(d−c) for some c≥0.13. On the other hand, we show that any strategy using an entangled state of local dimension d has success probability at most 1−Ω(d−2). In addition, we show that any strategy restricted to producing answers in a set of cardinality at most d has success probability at most 1−Ω(d−2). Finally, we generalize our construction to derive similar results starting from any game G with two questions per player and finite answers sets in which quantum strategies have an advantage.
How much entanglement does near-optimal play of a two-player nonlocal game require? We give an explicit binary linear system game, with 1687 equations in 1993 variables and at most three variables in each equation, whose quantum value is one, and in which every strategy that wins with probability 1−ε needs entanglement entropy ε−1+o(1), hence local dimension exp(ε−1+o(1)). The same bound holds for the entanglement of formation of mixed strategies, and a strategy on a maximally entangled state of local dimension exp(Cε−1log(1/ε)) suffices, so the exponent is sharp. For explicit two-player games of quantum value one, the best previous lower bound was polynomial in 1/ε. The game comes from a finitely generated, elementary amenable group: a lamplighter whose lamps are Pauli pairs indexed by finite sets of points on the three rays on which Houghton's group acts. Exponentially many of these pairs share one central involution, yet the relation that any two of them commute can be derived from a fixed finite set of relations in a number of steps only quasi-polynomial in the number of points. Two tools may be of independent use. The first counts qubits from approximate Pauli relations measured in an arbitrary state, with the errors of different pairs adding in squares. The second identifies, in both directions and at the natural precision ε, the near-optimal strategies of a linear system game with approximate representations of its solution group measured in the players' actual state, so that no power of ε is lost by passing to a flat state. The same tools give sharp rates for two earlier examples: the CHSH(n) games need Θ(min(n,1/ε)) ebits, and the linear system game of Slofstra and Vidick needs local dimension Θ(ε−1/2).
We bound separations between the entangled and classical values for several classes of nonlocal t-player games. Our motivating question is whether there is a family of t-player XOR games for which the entangled bias is 1 but for which the classical bias goes down to 0, for fixed t. Answering this question would have important consequences in the study of multi-party communication complexity, as a positive answer would imply an unbounded separation between randomized communication complexity with and without entanglement. Our contribution to answering the question is identifying several general classes of games for which the classical bias can not go to zero when the entangled bias stays above a constant threshold. This rules out the possibility of using these games to answer our motivating question. A previously studied set of XOR games, known not to give a positive answer to the question, are those for which there is a quantum strategy that attains value 1 using a so-called Schmidt state. We generalize this class to mod-m games and show that their classical value is always at least m1+mm−1t1−t. Secondly, for free XOR games, in which the input distribution is of product form, we show β(G)≥β∗(G)2t where β(G) and β∗(G) are the classical and entangled biases of the game respectively. We also introduce so-called line games, an example of which is a slight modification of the Magic Square game, and show that they can not give a positive answer to the question either. Finally we look at two-player unique games and show that if the entangled value is 1−ε then the classical value is at least 1−O(εlogk) where k is the number of outputs in the game. Our proofs use semidefinite-programming techniques, the Gowers inverse theorem and hypergraph norms.
We bound separations between the entangled and classical values for several classes of nonlocal t-player games. Our motivating question is whether there is a family of t-player XOR games for which the entangled bias is 1 but for which the classical bias goes down to 0, for fixed t. Answering this question would have important consequences in the study of multi-party communication complexity, as a positive answer would imply an unbounded separation between randomized communication complexity with and without entanglement. Our contribution to answering the question is identifying several general classes of games for which the classical bias can not go to zero when the entangled bias stays above a constant threshold. This rules out the possibility of using these games to answer our motivating question. A previously studied set of XOR games, known not to give a positive answer to the question, are those for which there is a quantum strategy that attains value 1 using a so-called Schmidt state. We generalize this class to mod-m games and show that their classical value is always at least 1/m + (m-1)/m t^{1-t}. Secondly, for free XOR games, in which the input distribution is of product form, we show beta(G) >= beta^*(G)^{2^t} where beta(G) and beta^*(G) are the classical and entangled biases of the game respectively. We also introduce so-called line games, an example of which is a slight modification of the Magic Square game, and show that they can not give a positive answer to the question either. Finally we look at two-player unique games and show that if the entangled value is 1-epsilon then the classical value is at least 1-O(sqrt{epsilon log k}) where k is the number of outputs in the game. Our proofs use semidefinite-programming techniques, the Gowers inverse theorem and hypergraph norms.
A pseudo-telepathy game is a nonlocal game which can be won with probability one using some finite-dimensional quantum strategy but not using a classical one. Our central question is whether there exist two-party pseudo-telepathy games which cannot be won with probability one using a maximally entangled state. Towards answering this question, we develop conditions under which maximally entangled states suffice. In particular, we show that maximally entangled states suffice for weak projection games which we introduce as a relaxation of projection games. Our results also imply that any pseudo-telepathy weak projection game yields a device-independent certification of a maximally entangled state. In particular, by establishing connections to the setting of communication complexity, we exhibit a class of games Gn for testing maximally entangled states of local dimension Ω(n). We leave the robustness of these self-tests as an open question.