Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:quant-ph/0105151 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

Lower bound for the quantum capacity of a discrete memoryless quantum channel

Ryutaroh Matsumoto, Tomohiko Uyematsu

Published Sep 1, 2002• 21 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We generalize the random coding argument of stabilizer codes and derive a lower bound on the quantum capacity of an arbitrary discrete memoryless quantum channel. For the depolarizing channel, our lower bound coincides with that obtained by Bennett et al. We also slightly improve the quantum Gilbert–Varshamov bound for general stabilizer codes, and establish an analog of the quantum Gilbert–Varshamov bound for linear stabilizer codes. Our proof is restricted to the binary quantum channels, but its extension of to l-adic channels is straight forward.

DOI
10.1063/1.1497999

Related papers

Random Quantum LDPC Codes Approaching the Gilbert-Varshamov Bound

Tushant Mittal, Shashank Srivastava, Madhur Tulsiani +1 more

We show that for any $R,ε>0$ and any prime $p\geq 2$, there exists an infinite family of $p$-ary quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes, rate $R$, checks of weight $O_ε(1)$, and normalized distance at least $δ_{\mathrm{GV}}(p,R)-ε$. Here, $δ_{\mathrm{GV}}(p,R)$ denotes the quantum Gilbert-Varshamov (GV) bound for $p$-ary stabilizer codes. In fact, we construct an ensemble of such QLDPC codes, such that a random code from this ensemble is close to the GV bound with high probability. Moreover, this ensemble matches the performance of random stabilizer codes on several quantum channels. Specifically, it approaches the quantum capacity of the erasure channel and the hashing bound for memoryless Pauli channels, including the depolarizing channel. A significant challenge in working with QLDPC codes is that they are necessarily \emph{degenerate}, i.e., contain many low-weight stabilizers. A key contribution of our work is a construction of QLDPC codes with quantitative control on their degeneracy. These codes are obtained by combining known constructions of asymptotically good QLDPC codes with the expander-based distance amplification procedure of Alon, Edmonds, and Luby [FOCS'95]. Our random ensemble is constructed by starting with these low-degeneracy QLDPC codes near the quantum Singleton bound and concatenating each coordinate with a random inner code. This can be viewed as a quantum analogue of Thommesen's construction, and as an LDPC version of a result of Ouyang, with an appropriately designed outer code.

cs.ITCross-listedarXiv:2610.02648•Oct 5, 2026•0 citations

Lower bounds on the quantum capacity and highest error exponent of general memoryless channels

M. Hamada

Tradeoffs between the information rate and fidelity of quantum error-correcting codes are discussed. Quantum channels to be considered are those subject to independent errors and modeled as tensor products of copies of a general completely positive (CP) linear map, where the dimension of the underlying Hilbert space is a prime number. On such a quantum channel, the highest fidelity of a quantum error-correcting code of length n and rate R is proven to be lower-bounded by 1-exp[-nE(R)+o(n)] for some function E(R). The E(R) is positive below some threshold R/sub 0/, a direct consequence of which is that R/sub 0/ is a lower bound on the quantum capacity. This is an extension of the author's earlier result. While the earlier work states the result for the depolarizing channel and a slight generalization of it (Pauli channels), the result of this work applies to general discrete memoryless channels, including channel models derived from a physical law of time evolution.

arXiv:quant-ph/0112103•IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Sep 1, 2002•24 citations

A Finite Gilbert–Varshamov Bound for Pure Stabilizer Quantum Codes

Kai Feng, Zhi Ma

A finite Gilbert-Varshamov (GV) bound for pure stabilizer (binary and nonbinary) quantum error correcting codes is presented in analogy to the GV bound for classical codes by using several enumerative results in finite unitary geometry. From this quantum GV bound we obtain several new binary quantum codes in a nonconstructive way having better parameters than the known codes.

IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Nov 30, 2004•110 citations

Information Rates Achievable With Algebraic Codes on Quantum Discrete Memoryless Channels

M. Hamada

The highest information rate at which quantum error-correction schemes work reliably on a channel is called the quantum capacity. Here this is proven to be lower-bounded by the limit of coherent information maximized over the set of input density operators which are proportional to the projections onto the code spaces of symplectic stabilizer codes. The quantum channels to be considered are those subject to independent errors and modeled as tensor products of copies of a completely positive linear map on a Hilbert space of finite dimension. The codes that are proven to have the desired performance are symplectic stabilizer codes. On the depolarizing channel, the bound proven here is actually the highest possible rate at which symplectic stabilizer codes work reliably

arXiv:quant-ph/0207113•IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Nov 22, 2005•30 citations

Quantum entanglement capacity with classical feedback

Alan W. Leung

For any quantum discrete memoryless channel, we define a quantity called quantum entanglement capacity with classical feedback $({E}_{B})$, and we show that this quantity lies between two other well-studied quantities. These two quantities---namely the quantum capacity assisted by two-way classical communication $({Q}_{2})$ and the quantum capacity with classical feedback $({Q}_{B})$---are widely conjectured to be different: There exists a quantum discrete memoryless channel for which ${Q}_{2}>{Q}_{B}$. We then present a general scheme to convert any quantum error-correcting codes into adaptive protocols for this newly defined quantity of the quantum depolarizing channel, and illustrate with the repetition code and Shor code. We contrast the present notion with entanglement purification protocols by showing that, whilst the Leung-Shor protocol can be applied directly, recurrence methods need to be supplemented with other techniques but at the same time offer a way to improve the aforementioned repetition code. For the quantum depolarizing channel, we prove a formula that gives lower bounds on the quantum capacity with classical feedback from any ${E}_{B}$ protocols. We then apply this formula to the ${E}_{B}$ protocols that we discuss to obtain lower bounds on the quantum capacity with classical feedback of the quantum depolarizing channel.

arXiv:0709.2953•Physical Review A•Jan 18, 2008•7 citations

A low-rate bound on the reliability of a quantum discrete memoryless channel

Alexander Barg

We extend a low-rate improvement of the random coding bound on the reliability of a classical discrete memoryless channel (DMC) to its quantum counterpart. The key observation that we make is that the problem of bounding below the error exponent for a quantum channel relying on the class of stabilizer codes is equivalent to the problem of deriving error exponents for a certain symmetric classical channel.

arXiv:quant-ph/0203077•IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Dec 1, 2002•13 citations
We generalize the random coding argument of stabilizer codes and derive a lower bound on the quantum capacity of an arbitrary discrete memoryless quantum channel. For the depolarizing channel, our lower bound coincides with that obtained by Bennett et al. We also slightly improve the quantum Gilbert–Varshamov bound for general stabilizer codes, and establish an analog of the quantum Gilbert–Varshamov bound for linear stabilizer codes. Our proof is restricted to the binary quantum channels, but its extension of to l-adic channels is straight forward.
We show that for any R,ε>0R,ε>0R,ε>0 and any prime p≥2p\geq 2p≥2, there exists an infinite family of ppp-ary quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes, rate RRR, checks of weight Oε(1)O_ε(1)Oε​(1), and normalized distance at least δGV(p,R)−εδ_{\mathrm{GV}}(p,R)-εδGV​(p,R)−ε. Here, δGV(p,R)δ_{\mathrm{GV}}(p,R)δGV​(p,R) denotes the quantum Gilbert-Varshamov (GV) bound for ppp-ary stabilizer codes. In fact, we construct an ensemble of such QLDPC codes, such that a random code from this ensemble is close to the GV bound with high probability. Moreover, this ensemble matches the performance of random stabilizer codes on several quantum channels. Specifically, it approaches the quantum capacity of the erasure channel and the hashing bound for memoryless Pauli channels, including the depolarizing channel. A significant challenge in working with QLDPC codes is that they are necessarily \emph{degenerate}, i.e., contain many low-weight stabilizers. A key contribution of our work is a construction of QLDPC codes with quantitative control on their degeneracy. These codes are obtained by combining known constructions of asymptotically good QLDPC codes with the expander-based distance amplification procedure of Alon, Edmonds, and Luby [FOCS'95]. Our random ensemble is constructed by starting with these low-degeneracy QLDPC codes near the quantum Singleton bound and concatenating each coordinate with a random inner code. This can be viewed as a quantum analogue of Thommesen's construction, and as an LDPC version of a result of Ouyang, with an appropriately designed outer code.
Tradeoffs between the information rate and fidelity of quantum error-correcting codes are discussed. Quantum channels to be considered are those subject to independent errors and modeled as tensor products of copies of a general completely positive (CP) linear map, where the dimension of the underlying Hilbert space is a prime number. On such a quantum channel, the highest fidelity of a quantum error-correcting code of length n and rate R is proven to be lower-bounded by 1-exp[-nE(R)+o(n)] for some function E(R). The E(R) is positive below some threshold R/sub 0/, a direct consequence of which is that R/sub 0/ is a lower bound on the quantum capacity. This is an extension of the author's earlier result. While the earlier work states the result for the depolarizing channel and a slight generalization of it (Pauli channels), the result of this work applies to general discrete memoryless channels, including channel models derived from a physical law of time evolution.
The highest information rate at which quantum error-correction schemes work reliably on a channel is called the quantum capacity. Here this is proven to be lower-bounded by the limit of coherent information maximized over the set of input density operators which are proportional to the projections onto the code spaces of symplectic stabilizer codes. The quantum channels to be considered are those subject to independent errors and modeled as tensor products of copies of a completely positive linear map on a Hilbert space of finite dimension. The codes that are proven to have the desired performance are symplectic stabilizer codes. On the depolarizing channel, the bound proven here is actually the highest possible rate at which symplectic stabilizer codes work reliably
For any quantum discrete memoryless channel, we define a quantity called quantum entanglement capacity with classical feedback (EB)({E}_{B})(EB​), and we show that this quantity lies between two other well-studied quantities. These two quantities---namely the quantum capacity assisted by two-way classical communication (Q2)({Q}_{2})(Q2​) and the quantum capacity with classical feedback (QB)({Q}_{B})(QB​)---are widely conjectured to be different: There exists a quantum discrete memoryless channel for which Q2>QB{Q}_{2}>{Q}_{B}Q2​>QB​. We then present a general scheme to convert any quantum error-correcting codes into adaptive protocols for this newly defined quantity of the quantum depolarizing channel, and illustrate with the repetition code and Shor code. We contrast the present notion with entanglement purification protocols by showing that, whilst the Leung-Shor protocol can be applied directly, recurrence methods need to be supplemented with other techniques but at the same time offer a way to improve the aforementioned repetition code. For the quantum depolarizing channel, we prove a formula that gives lower bounds on the quantum capacity with classical feedback from any EB{E}_{B}EB​ protocols. We then apply this formula to the EB{E}_{B}EB​ protocols that we discuss to obtain lower bounds on the quantum capacity with classical feedback of the quantum depolarizing channel.