This paper introduces an entanglement-based Quantum Distance Bounding (QDB) protocol, whose security derived from Bell’s inequality violation. This protocol leverages the non-locality of quantum entanglement to enhance the integrity and security of quantum channels, providing device-independent assurances. We present both the theoretical framework and a practical implementation scenario using Qiskit. This study lays the groundwork for rigorous future analyses and the refinement of QDB protocols.
This paper introduces an entanglement-based Quantum Distance Bounding (QDB) protocol, whose security derived from Bell’s inequality violation. This protocol leverages the non-locality of quantum entanglement to enhance the integrity and security of quantum channels, providing device-independent assurances. We present both the theoretical framework and a practical implementation scenario using Qiskit. This study lays the groundwork for rigorous future analyses and the refinement of QDB protocols.
Understanding the quantitative relation between entanglement and Bell nonlocality is a long-standing open problem of fundamental and practical interest. Here, we tackle this problem in a general Bell scenario. We observe that lying in the center of quantifying these properties are two minimal distances: one from a state to separable states (entanglement), and the other from a correlation to local correlations (nonlocality). We find that these two distances can be related to each other—the minimal correlation distance provides a lower bound for the minimal state distance, which allows us to derive nontrivial bounds on many entanglement measures with an arbitrary nonlocal correlation. Moreover, with the on-hand structural knowledge of entanglement and nonlocality in the ( n , 2, 2) Bell scenario, we refine our estimate significantly.
Understanding the quantitative relation between entanglement and Bell nonlocality is a long-standing open problem of fundamental and practical interest. Here, we tackle this problem in a general Bell scenario. {We observe that lying in the center of quantifying these properties are two minimal distances: one from a state to separable states (entanglement), and the other from a correlation to local correlations (nonlocality).} We find that these two distances can be related to each other -- the minimal correlation distance provides a lower bound for the minimal state distance, which allows us to derive nontrivial bounds on many entanglement measures with an arbitrary nonlocal correlation. Moreover, with the on-hand structural knowledge of entanglement and nonlocality in the (n,2,2) Bell scenario, we refine our estimate significantly.
It is one of the most remarkable features of quantum physics that measurements on spatially separated systems cannot always be described by a locally causal theory. In such a theory, the outcomes of local measurements are determined in advance solely by some unknown (or hidden) variables and the choice of local measurements. Correlations that are allowed within the framework of a locally causal theory are termed classical. Typically, the fact that quantum mechanics does not always result in classical correlations is revealed by the violation of Bell inequalities, which are constraints that have to be satisfied by any classical correlations. It has been known for a long time that entanglement is necessary to demonstrate nonclassical correlations, and hence a Bell inequality violation. However, since some entangled quantum states are known to admit explicit locally causal models, the exact role of entanglement in Bell inequality violation has remained obscure. This thesis provides both a comprehensive review on these issues as well as a report on new discoveries made to clarify the relationship between entanglement and Bell inequality violation. In particular, within the framework of a standard Bell experiment, i.e., a Bell inequality test that is directly performed on a single copy of a quantum state r, we have derived two algorithms to determine, respectively, a lower bound and an upper bound on the strength of correlations that r can offer for any given Bell inequality. Both of these algorithms make use convex optimization techniques in the form of a semidefinite program. By examples, we show that these algorithms can often be used in tandem, in conjunction with convexity arguments, to determine if a quantum state can offer nonclassical correlations and hence violates a given Bell inequality. On the other hand, since a standard Bell experiment typically involves measurements over many copies of the quantum systems, we have also investigated the possibility of enhancing the strength of nonclassical correlation by, instead, performing collective measurements on multiple copies of the quantum systems. Our findings show that even without postselection, such joint measurements may also lead to stronger nonclassical correlations, and hence a better Bell inequality violation. Meanwhile, previous studies have indicated that entangled state admitting locally causal models may still lead to observable nonclassical correlations if, prior to a standard Bell experiment, the state is subjected to some appropriate local preprocessing. This phenomenon of hidden nonlocality was discovered more than a decade ago, but to date, it is still not known if all entangled states can demonstrate nonclassical correlations through these more sophisticated Bell experiments. A key result in this thesis then consists of showing that for all bipartite entangled states, observable nonclassical correlations, in the form of a Bell-CHSH inequality violation, can indeed be derived if we allow both local preprocessing and the usage of shared ancillary state which by itself does not violate the Bell-CHSH inequality. This establishes a kind of equivalence between bipartite entanglement and states that cannot be simulated by classical correlations. In summary, for a standard Bell experiment where no local preprocessing on a quantum state r is allowed, we have provided two algorithms that can be used in tandem to determine if r can be simulated by a locally causal theory, whereas in the scenario where local preprocessing is allowed, we have demonstrated that bipartite entangled states are precisely those which cannot always be simulated classically.
Distance-bounding (DB) protocols let a verifier upper-bound a prover's physical distance by timing rapid challenge-response exchanges. Quantum communication promises simpler DB protocols with stronger security guarantees, yet existing quantum distance-bounding (QDB) proposals are analysed in ad-hoc models and, to the best of our knowledge, lack a common game-based treatment of standard fraud attacks. We contribute (i) a reusable security framework for QDB that fixes system and timing assumptions, specifies a quantum-capable adversary model, formalises distance-, mafia-, and terrorist-fraud experiments, and includes a simple i.i.d. depolarizing noise model; and (ii) an application of this framework to a published QDB protocol. For this protocol we characterise the honest per-round acceptance probability under noise and lift it to the multi-round setting, yielding explicit completeness guarantees as a function of the number of fast rounds, the acceptance threshold, and the noise parameter. For active adversaries we bound the per-round success probability of distance-fraud attacks and analyse the best known mafia-fraud strategy, deriving corresponding multi-round soundness bounds. We also show that the protocol is inherently insecure against terrorist-fraud in our model. The framework cleanly separates protocol-independent definitions from protocol-specific analysis and can be used to evaluate existing and future QDB protocols on a common basis.
Abstract Bell inequalities have long been essential for the device-independent detection of entanglement. This study introduces subcorrelation Bell inequalities as a robust framework for detecting entanglement and probing quantum non-locality. We derived a family of such inequalities, categorized according to their dependence on measurement settings, and numerically identified 19 distinct quantum states that achieve the maximal violation of these inequalities. Importantly, our focus on maximal violation is not for its own sake but because, in this framework, maximal violation directly corresponds to maximal robustness of nonlocal correlations against particle loss. This connection reveals a broad class of multipartite entangled states that remain resilient under loss, making them highly relevant for practical implementations of quantum information protocols. We further characterized their entanglement properties using concurrence and the geometric measure, confirming their utility for critical areas such as quantum communication, cryptography, and device-independent protocols. The framework established herein sets the stage for future investigations, including the generalization of these inequalities to higher-dimensional systems and a more comprehensive characterization of their robustness against various forms of noise, thereby expanding the potential for non-local states to drive progress in quantum technologies.