© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

Terms Privacy Legal Notice

arXiv:quant-ph/0208131

Compression of sources of probability distributions and density operators

Andreas Winter

Published Aug 21, 2002• 62 citations

Abstract

We study the problem of efficient compression of a stochastic source of probability distributions. It can be viewed as a generalization of Shannon's source coding problem. It has relation to the theory of common randomness, as well as to channel coding and rate--distortion theory: in the first two subjects ``inverses'' to established coding theorems can be derived, yielding a new approach to proving converse theorems, in the third we find a new proof of Shannon's rate--distortion theorem. After reviewing the known lower bound for the optimal compression rate, we present a number of approaches to achieve it by code constructions. Our main results are: a better understanding of the known lower bounds on the compression rate by means of a strong version of this statement, a review of a construction achieving the lower bound by using common randomness which we complement by showing the optimal use of the latter within a class of protocols. Then we review another approach, not dependent on common randomness, to minimizing the compression rate, providing some insight into its combinatorial structure, and suggesting an algorithm to optimize it. The second part of the paper is concerned with the generalization of the problem to quantum information theory: the compression of mixed quantum states. Here, after reviewing the known lower bound we contribute a strong version of it, and discuss the relation of the problem to other issues in quantum information theory.

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0208131

Related papers

Compressing quantum mixed-state sources by sending classical information

Emina Soljanin

We consider visible compression for discrete memoryless sources of mixed quantum states when only classical information can be sent from Alice to Bob. We assume that Bob knows the source statistics, and that Alice and Bob have access to the same source of random numbers. We put in an information-theoretic framework some previous results on visible compression for sources of states with commuting density operators, and remove the commutativity requirement. We derive a general achievable compression rate, which is for the noncommutative case still higher than the known lower bound. We also present several related problems of classical information theory, and show how they can be used to answer some questions of the mixed-state compression problem.

IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Aug 1, 2002•19 citations

Rate-limited Quantum-to-Classical Optimal Transport: A Lossy Source Coding Perspective

Hafez M. Garmaroudi, S. Sandeep Pradhan, Jun Chen

We consider the rate-limited quantum-to-classical optimal transport in terms of output-constrained rate-distortion coding for discrete quantum measurement systems with limited classical common randomness. The main coding theorem provides the achievable rate region of a lossy measurement source coding for an exact construction of the destination distribution (or the equivalent quantum state) while maintaining a threshold of distortion from the source state according to a generally defined distortion observable. The constraint on the output space fixes the output distribution to an i.i.d. predefined probability mass function. Therefore, this problem can also be viewed as information-constrained optimal transport which finds the optimal cost of transporting the source quantum state to the destination state via an entanglement-breaking channel with limited communication rate and common randomness.1

IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT)•Jun 25, 2023•6 citations

Compressing Mixed-State Sources by Sending Classical Information

Emina Soljanin

We consider visible compression for discrete memoryless sources of mixed quantum states when only classical information can be sent from Alice to Bob. We assume that Bob knows the source statistics, and that Alice and Bob have identical random number generators. We put in an information theoretic framework some recent results on visible compression for sources of states with commuting density operators, and remove the commutativity requirement. We derive a general achievable compression rate, which is for the noncommutative case still higher than the known lower bound. We also present several related problems of classical information theory, and show how they can be used to answer some questions of the mixed state compression problem.

arXiv:quant-ph/0110130•Oct 23, 2001•1 citation

Channel Simulation and Coded Source Compression

Min-Hsiu Hsieh, Shun Watanabe

Coded source compression, also known as source compression with helpers, has been a major variant of distributed source compression, but has hitherto received little attention in the quantum regime. This letter treats and solves the corresponding quantum coded source compression through an observation that connects coded source compression with channel simulation. First, we consider classical source coding with quantum side information, where the quantum side information is observed by a helper and sent to the decoder via a classical channel. We derive a single-letter characterization of the achievable rate region for this problem. The direct coding theorem of our result is proved via the measurement compression theory of Winter, a quantum-to-classical channel simulation. Our result reveals that a helper's scheme which separately conducts a measurement and a compression is suboptimal, and measurement compression seems necessary to achieve the optimal rate region. We then study coded source compression in the fully quantum regime, where two different scenarios are considered depending on the types of communication channels between the legitimate source and the receiver. We further allow entanglement assistance from the quantum helper in both scenarios. We characterize the involved quantum resources and derive single-letter expressions of the achievable rate region. The direct coding proofs are based on well-known quantum protocols, the quantum state merging protocol, and the fully quantum Slepian-Wolf protocol, together with the quantum reverse Shannon theorem.

arXiv:1511.06071•IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Aug 3, 2016•30 citations

Quantum Coding Theorems for Arbitrary Sources, Channels and Entanglement Resources

Garry Bowen, Nilanjana Datta

The information spectrum approach gives general formulae for optimal rates of various information theoretic protocols, under minimal assumptions on the nature of the sources, channels and entanglement resources involved. This paper culminates in the derivation of the dense coding capacity for a noiseless quantum channel, assisted by arbitrary shared entanglement, using this approach. We also review the currently known coding theorems, and their converses, for protocols such as data compression for arbitrary quantum sources and transmission of classical information through arbitrary quantum channels. In addition, we derive the optimal rate of data compression for a mixed source

arXiv:quant-ph/0610003•Sep 30, 2006•13 citations

Quantum Rate-Distortion Coding With Auxiliary Resources

Mark M. Wilde, Nilanjana Datta, Min-Hsiu Hsieh +1 more

We extend quantum rate-distortion theory by considering auxiliary resources that might be available to a sender and receiver performing lossy quantum data compression. The first setting we consider is that of quantum rate-distortion coding with the help of a classical side channel. Our result here is that the regularized entanglement of formation characterizes the quantum rate-distortion function, extending earlier work of Devetak and Berger. We also combine this bound with the entanglement-assisted bound from our prior work to obtain the best known bounds on the quantum rate-distortion function for an isotropic qubit source. The second setting we consider is that of quantum rate-distortion coding with quantum side information (QSI) available to the receiver. In order to prove results in this setting, we first state and prove a quantum reverse Shannon theorem with QSI (for tensor-power states), which extends the known tensor-power quantum reverse Shannon theorem. The achievability part of this theorem relies on the quantum state redistribution protocol, while the converse relies on the fact that the protocol can cause only a negligible disturbance to the joint state of the reference and the receiver's QSI. This quantum reverse Shannon theorem with QSI naturally leads to quantum rate-distortion theorems with QSI, with or without entanglement assistance.

arXiv:1212.5316•IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Jul 4, 2013•40 citations

We study the problem of efficient compression of a stochastic source of probability distributions. It can be viewed as a generalization of Shannon's source coding problem. It has relation to the theory of common randomness, as well as to channel coding and rate--distortion theory: in the first two subjects ``inverses'' to established coding theorems can be derived, yielding a new approach to proving converse theorems, in the third we find a new proof of Shannon's rate--distortion theorem. After reviewing the known lower bound for the optimal compression rate, we present a number of approaches to achieve it by code constructions. Our main results are: a better understanding of the known lower bounds on the compression rate by means of a strong version of this statement, a review of a construction achieving the lower bound by using common randomness which we complement by showing the optimal use of the latter within a class of protocols. Then we review another approach, not dependent on common randomness, to minimizing the compression rate, providing some insight into its combinatorial structure, and suggesting an algorithm to optimize it. The second part of the paper is concerned with the generalization of the problem to quantum information theory: the compression of mixed quantum states. Here, after reviewing the known lower bound we contribute a strong version of it, and discuss the relation of the problem to other issues in quantum information theory.

We consider visible compression for discrete memoryless sources of mixed quantum states when only classical information can be sent from Alice to Bob. We assume that Bob knows the source statistics, and that Alice and Bob have access to the same source of random numbers. We put in an information-theoretic framework some previous results on visible compression for sources of states with commuting density operators, and remove the commutativity requirement. We derive a general achievable compression rate, which is for the noncommutative case still higher than the known lower bound. We also present several related problems of classical information theory, and show how they can be used to answer some questions of the mixed-state compression problem.

We consider the rate-limited quantum-to-classical optimal transport in terms of output-constrained rate-distortion coding for discrete quantum measurement systems with limited classical common randomness. The main coding theorem provides the achievable rate region of a lossy measurement source coding for an exact construction of the destination distribution (or the equivalent quantum state) while maintaining a threshold of distortion from the source state according to a generally defined distortion observable. The constraint on the output space fixes the output distribution to an i.i.d. predefined probability mass function. Therefore, this problem can also be viewed as information-constrained optimal transport which finds the optimal cost of transporting the source quantum state to the destination state via an entanglement-breaking channel with limited communication rate and common randomness.1

We consider visible compression for discrete memoryless sources of mixed quantum states when only classical information can be sent from Alice to Bob. We assume that Bob knows the source statistics, and that Alice and Bob have identical random number generators. We put in an information theoretic framework some recent results on visible compression for sources of states with commuting density operators, and remove the commutativity requirement. We derive a general achievable compression rate, which is for the noncommutative case still higher than the known lower bound. We also present several related problems of classical information theory, and show how they can be used to answer some questions of the mixed state compression problem.

Coded source compression, also known as source compression with helpers, has been a major variant of distributed source compression, but has hitherto received little attention in the quantum regime. This letter treats and solves the corresponding quantum coded source compression through an observation that connects coded source compression with channel simulation. First, we consider classical source coding with quantum side information, where the quantum side information is observed by a helper and sent to the decoder via a classical channel. We derive a single-letter characterization of the achievable rate region for this problem. The direct coding theorem of our result is proved via the measurement compression theory of Winter, a quantum-to-classical channel simulation. Our result reveals that a helper's scheme which separately conducts a measurement and a compression is suboptimal, and measurement compression seems necessary to achieve the optimal rate region. We then study coded source compression in the fully quantum regime, where two different scenarios are considered depending on the types of communication channels between the legitimate source and the receiver. We further allow entanglement assistance from the quantum helper in both scenarios. We characterize the involved quantum resources and derive single-letter expressions of the achievable rate region. The direct coding proofs are based on well-known quantum protocols, the quantum state merging protocol, and the fully quantum Slepian-Wolf protocol, together with the quantum reverse Shannon theorem.

The information spectrum approach gives general formulae for optimal rates of various information theoretic protocols, under minimal assumptions on the nature of the sources, channels and entanglement resources involved. This paper culminates in the derivation of the dense coding capacity for a noiseless quantum channel, assisted by arbitrary shared entanglement, using this approach. We also review the currently known coding theorems, and their converses, for protocols such as data compression for arbitrary quantum sources and transmission of classical information through arbitrary quantum channels. In addition, we derive the optimal rate of data compression for a mixed source

We extend quantum rate-distortion theory by considering auxiliary resources that might be available to a sender and receiver performing lossy quantum data compression. The first setting we consider is that of quantum rate-distortion coding with the help of a classical side channel. Our result here is that the regularized entanglement of formation characterizes the quantum rate-distortion function, extending earlier work of Devetak and Berger. We also combine this bound with the entanglement-assisted bound from our prior work to obtain the best known bounds on the quantum rate-distortion function for an isotropic qubit source. The second setting we consider is that of quantum rate-distortion coding with quantum side information (QSI) available to the receiver. In order to prove results in this setting, we first state and prove a quantum reverse Shannon theorem with QSI (for tensor-power states), which extends the known tensor-power quantum reverse Shannon theorem. The achievability part of this theorem relies on the quantum state redistribution protocol, while the converse relies on the fact that the protocol can cause only a negligible disturbance to the joint state of the reference and the receiver's QSI. This quantum reverse Shannon theorem with QSI naturally leads to quantum rate-distortion theorems with QSI, with or without entanglement assistance.