Converses from non-signalling codes and their relationship to converses from hypothesis testing

We investigate converse bounds on the average decoding error probability in finite-blocklength classical-quantum channel coding. We first present a lower bound for multiple quantum hypothesis testing in terms of pairwise trace distances and derive a corresponding fidelity bound. We then obtain a spectrum-based converse that depends only on the a priori probabilities and spectra of the states. We show that the converse bound remains tight for the quantum depolarizing channel under suitable conditions. For codes with product-state outputs, this converse takes an explicit form involving products of output-state eigenvalues. We apply it to binary codes over the quantum amplitude damping channel using the input states $\vert+\rangle$ and $\vert-\rangle$ . For this setting, we also discuss a normal approximation to the spectrum-based converse in the large blocklength regime. In all numerical examples considered, the spectrum-based converse is tighter than the other converse bounds at low noise levels.We investigate converse bounds on the average decoding error probability in finite-blocklength classical-quantum channel coding. We first present a lower bound for multiple quantum hypothesis testing in terms of pairwise trace distances and derive a corresponding fidelity bound. We then obtain a spectrum-based converse that depends only on the a priori probabilities and spectra of the states. We show that the converse bound remains tight for the quantum depolarizing channel under suitable conditions. For codes with product-state outputs, this converse takes an explicit form involving products of output-state eigenvalues. We apply it to binary codes over the quantum amplitude damping channel using the input states $\vert+\rangle$ and $\vert-\rangle$. For this setting, we also discuss a normal approximation to the spectrum-based converse in the large blocklength regime. In all numerical examples considered, the spectrum-based converse is tighter than the other converse bounds at low noise levels.

quant-pharXiv:2610.06840Oct 6, 20260 citations

Finite Blocklength Converse Bounds for Quantum Channels

William Matthews, Stephanie Wehner

We derive upper bounds on the rate of transmission of classical information over quantum channels by block codes with a given blocklength and error probability, for both entanglement-assisted and unassisted codes, in terms of a unifying framework of quantum hypothesis testing with restricted measurements. Our bounds do not depend on any special property of the channel (such as memorylessness) and generalize both a classical converse of Polyanskiy, Poor, and Verdú as well as a quantum converse of Renner and Wang, and have a number of desirable properties. In particular, our bound on entanglement-assisted codes is a semidefinite program and for memoryless channels, its large blocklength limit is the well-known formula for entanglement-assisted capacity due to Bennett, Shor, Smolin, and Thapliyal.We derive upper bounds on the rate of transmission of classical information over quantum channels by block codes with a given blocklength and error probability, for both entanglement-assisted and unassisted codes, in terms of a unifying framework of quantum hypothesis testing with restricted measurements. Our bounds do not depend on any special property of the channel (such as memorylessness) and generalize both a classical converse of Polyanskiy, Poor, and Verdú as well as a quantum converse of Renner and Wang, and have a number of desirable properties. In particular, our bound on entanglement-assisted codes is a semidefinite program and for memoryless channels, its large blocklength limit is the well-known formula for entanglement-assisted capacity due to Bennett, Shor, Smolin, and Thapliyal.

arXiv:1210.4722IEEE Transactions on Information TheorySep 8, 2014105 citations

Classical and quantum codes

Alexei Kitaev, Alexander Khanievich Shen', M. Vyalyi

Graduate studies in mathematicsMay 31, 200212 citations

Finite-blocklength classical communication over the quantum erasure channel with and without classical feedback

Mark M. Wilde

We determine the optimal success probability for transmitting a fixed number of classical messages through a finite number of uses of the quantum erasure channel, assisted by noiseless classical feedback and without initial shared entanglement. For an input dimension $d$ , an erasure probability $p$ , a blocklength $n$ , and $M$ equiprobable messages, the optimal success probability is equal to $E[\min\{1,d^K/M\}]$ , where $K$ is binomial with parameters $n$ and $1-p$ . The converse allows arbitrary adaptive quantum encoders, quantum memories, and receiver instruments. Its main ingredient is an elementary dimension bound for noiseless quantum communication with classical feedback, proved by fixing the classical controls without conditioning the sender's state on the observed transcript. A classical protocol that transmits the base- $d$ digits of an integer representing the message, repeating each digit until the receiver acknowledges its reception or the prescribed blocklength is reached, attains the bound for every integer $M$ . We also establish a relative-majorization property of erasure-channel outputs and exactly evaluate a hypothesis-testing converse, recovering the same numerical bound without feedback. That converse need not be achievable without feedback: four uses of the qubit erasure channel and four messages give a strict gap. A product-state code employing tetrahedral qubit states nevertheless outperforms every classical binary erasure code with these parameters. We give an explicit message-size formula and show that the bounded-remainder normal approximation and the average-success strong-converse exponent are unchanged without feedback. We also determine the feedback-assisted error exponent below capacity, prove that it agrees with the no-feedback exponent above a critical rate, and give no-feedback bounds at lower rates.We determine the optimal success probability for transmitting a fixed number of classical messages through a finite number of uses of the quantum erasure channel, assisted by noiseless classical feedback and without initial shared entanglement. For an input dimension $d$, an erasure probability $p$, a blocklength $n$, and $M$ equiprobable messages, the optimal success probability is equal to $E[\min\{1,d^K/M\}]$, where $K$ is binomial with parameters $n$ and $1-p$. The converse allows arbitrary adaptive quantum encoders, quantum memories, and receiver instruments. Its main ingredient is an elementary dimension bound for noiseless quantum communication with classical feedback, proved by fixing the classical controls without conditioning the sender's state on the observed transcript. A classical protocol that transmits the base-$d$ digits of an integer representing the message, repeating each digit until the receiver acknowledges its reception or the prescribed blocklength is reached, attains the bound for every integer $M$. We also establish a relative-majorization property of erasure-channel outputs and exactly evaluate a hypothesis-testing converse, recovering the same numerical bound without feedback. That converse need not be achievable without feedback: four uses of the qubit erasure channel and four messages give a strict gap. A product-state code employing tetrahedral qubit states nevertheless outperforms every classical binary erasure code with these parameters. We give an explicit message-size formula and show that the bounded-remainder normal approximation and the average-success strong-converse exponent are unchanged without feedback. We also determine the feedback-assisted error exponent below capacity, prove that it agrees with the no-feedback exponent above a critical rate, and give no-feedback bounds at lower rates.

quant-pharXiv:2610.00440Oct 1, 20260 citations

Upper and Lower Bounds for Continuous Non-Malleable Codes

Dana Dachman-Soled, Mukul Kulkarni

Lecture notes in computer scienceJan 1, 201910 citations

\vert+\rangle

and

\vert-\rangle

. For this setting, we also discuss a normal approximation to the spectrum-based converse in the large blocklength regime. In all numerical examples considered, the spectrum-based converse is tighter than the other converse bounds at low noise levels.

d

, an erasure probability

p

, a blocklength

n

, and

M

equiprobable messages, the optimal success probability is equal to

E[\min\{1,d^K/M\}]

, where

K

is binomial with parameters

n

and

1-p

. The converse allows arbitrary adaptive quantum encoders, quantum memories, and receiver instruments. Its main ingredient is an elementary dimension bound for noiseless quantum communication with classical feedback, proved by fixing the classical controls without conditioning the sender's state on the observed transcript. A classical protocol that transmits the base-

d

digits of an integer representing the message, repeating each digit until the receiver acknowledges its reception or the prescribed blocklength is reached, attains the bound for every integer

M

. We also establish a relative-majorization property of erasure-channel outputs and exactly evaluate a hypothesis-testing converse, recovering the same numerical bound without feedback. That converse need not be achievable without feedback: four uses of the qubit erasure channel and four messages give a strict gap. A product-state code employing tetrahedral qubit states nevertheless outperforms every classical binary erasure code with these parameters. We give an explicit message-size formula and show that the bounded-remainder normal approximation and the average-success strong-converse exponent are unchanged without feedback. We also determine the feedback-assisted error exponent below capacity, prove that it agrees with the no-feedback exponent above a critical rate, and give no-feedback bounds at lower rates.