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arXiv:quant-ph/9609024 · Physical Review A

von Neumann capacity of noisy quantum channels

Christoph Adami, Nicolas J. Cerf

Published Nov 1, 1997• 209 citations

Abstract

We discuss the capacity of quantum channels for information transmission and storage. Quantum channels have dual uses: they can be used to transmit known quantum states which code for classical information, and they can be used in a purely quantum manner, for transmitting or storing quantum entanglement. We propose here a definition of the von Neumann capacity of quantum channels, which is a quantum-mechanical extension of the Shannon capacity and reverts to it in the classical limit. As such, the von Neumann capacity assumes the role of a classical or quantum capacity depending on the usage of the channel. In analogy to the classical construction, this capacity is defined as the maximum von Neumann mutual entropy processed by the channel, a measure which reduces to the capacity for classical information transmission through quantum channels (the ``Kholevo capacity'') when known quantum states are sent. The quantum mutual entropy fulfills all basic requirements for a measure of information, and observes quantum data-processing inequalities. We also derive a quantum Fano inequality relating the quantum loss of the channel to the fidelity of the quantum code. The quantities introduced are calculated explicitly for the quantum depolarizing channel. The von Neumann capacity is interpreted within the context of superdense coding, and an extended Hamming bound is derived that is consistent with that capacity.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.56.3470

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We discuss the capacity of quantum channels for information transmission and storage. Quantum channels have dual uses: they can be used to transmit known quantum states which code for classical information, and they can be used in a purely quantum manner, for transmitting or storing quantum entanglement. We propose here a definition of the von Neumann capacity of quantum channels, which is a quantum-mechanical extension of the Shannon capacity and reverts to it in the classical limit. As such, the von Neumann capacity assumes the role of a classical or quantum capacity depending on the usage of the channel. In analogy to the classical construction, this capacity is defined as the maximum von Neumann mutual entropy processed by the channel, a measure which reduces to the capacity for classical information transmission through quantum channels (the ``Kholevo capacity'') when known quantum states are sent. The quantum mutual entropy fulfills all basic requirements for a measure of information, and observes quantum data-processing inequalities. We also derive a quantum Fano inequality relating the quantum loss of the channel to the fidelity of the quantum code. The quantities introduced are calculated explicitly for the quantum depolarizing channel. The von Neumann capacity is interpreted within the context of superdense coding, and an extended Hamming bound is derived that is consistent with that capacity.

We consider the transmission of classical information over a quantum channel. The channel is defined by an ``alphabet'' of quantum states, e.g., certain photon polarizations, together with a specified set of probabilities with which these states must be sent. If the receiver is restricted to making separate measurements on the received ``letter'' states, then the Kholevo theorem implies that the amount of information transmitted per letter cannot be greater than the von Neumann entropy H of the letter ensemble. In fact the actual amount of transmitted information will usually be significantly less than H. We show, however, that if the sender uses a block coding scheme consisting of a choice of code words that respects the a priori probabilities of the letter states, and the receiver distinguishes whole words rather than individual letters, then the information transmitted per letter can be made arbitrarily close to H and never exceeds H. This provides a precise information-theoretic interpretation of von Neumann entropy in quantum mechanics. We apply this result to ``superdense'' coding, and we consider its extension to noisy channels. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

We define classical quantum multiway channels for transmission of classical information, after recent work by Allahverdyan and Saakian. Bounds on the capacity region are derived in a uniform way, which are analogous to the classically known ones, simply replacing Shannon entropy with von Neumann entropy. For the single receiver case (multiple-access channel) the exact capacity region is determined. These results are applied to the case of noisy channels, with arbitrary input signal states. A second issue of this work is the presentation of a calculus of quantum information quantities, based on the algebraic formulation of quantum theory.

We define classical quantum multiway channels for transmission of classical information, after the previous work by Allahverdyan and Saakian (see Quantum Computing and Quantum Communications (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, vol.1509, 1999). Bounds on the capacity region are derived in a uniform way, which are analogous to the classically known ones, simply replacing Shannon (1961) entropy with von Neumann (1955) entropy. For the single receiver case (multiple-access channel) the elect capacity region is determined. These results are applied to the case of noisy channels, with arbitrary input signal states. A second issue of this work is the presentation of a calculus of quantum information quantities, based on the algebraic formulation of quantum theory.

The operational structure of quantum couplings and entanglements is studied and classified for semi–finite von Neumann algebras. We show that the classical–quantum correspondences, such as quantum encodings, can be treated as diagonal semi–classical (d–) couplings, and the entanglements, characterized by truly quantum (q–) couplings, can be regarded as truly quantum encodings. The relative entropy of the d–compound and entangled states leads to two different types of entropy for a given quantum state: the von Neumann entropy, which is achieved as the maximum of mutual information over all d–entanglements, and the dimensional entropy, which is achieved at the standard entanglement (true quantum entanglement) coinciding with a d–entanglement only in the case of pure marginal states. The d– and q–information of a quantum noisy channel are, respectively, defined via the input d– and q–encodings, and the q–capacity of a quantum noiseless channel is found to be the logarithm of the dimensionality of the input algebra. The quantum capacity may double the classical capacity, achieved as the supremum over all d–couplings (or encodings) bounded by the logarithm of the dimensionality of a maximal Abelian subalgebra.

Abstract This book has discussed the foundations of quantum information science as well as the relationship between physics and information theory in general. It has considered the quantum equivalents of the Shannon coding and channel capacity theorems. The von Neumann entropy plays a role analogous to the Shannon entropy, and the Holevo bound is the analogue of Shannon's mutual information used to quantify the capacity of a classical channel. Quantum systems can process information more efficiently than classical systems in a number of different ways. Quantum teleportation and quantum dense coding can be performed using quantum entanglement. Entanglement is an excess of correlations that can exist in quantum physics and is impossible to reproduce classically (with what is termed “separable” states). The book has also demonstrated how to discriminate entangled from separable states using entanglement witnesses, as well as how to quantify entanglement, and looked at quantum computation and quantum algorithms.