A quantum network promises to enable long distance quantum communication, and assemble small quantum devices into a large quantum computing cluster. Each network node can thereby be seen as a small few qubit quantum computer. Qubits can be sent over
direct physical links connecting nearby quantum nodes, or by means of teleportation over pre-established entanglement amongst distant network nodes. Such pre-shared entanglement effectively forms a shortcut - a virtual quantum link - which can be used exactly once. Here, we present an abstraction of a quantum network that allows ideas from computer science to be applied to the problem of routing qubits, and manage entanglement in the network. Specifically, we consider a scenario in which each quantum network node can create EPR pairs with its immediate neighbours over a physical connection, and perform entanglement swapping operations in order to create long distance virtual quantum links. We proceed to discuss the features unique to quantum networks, which call for the development of new routing techniques. As an example, we present two simple hierarchical routing schemes for a quantum network of N nodes for a ring and sphere topology. For these topologies we present efficient routing algorithms requiring O(log N) qubits to be stored at each network node, O(polylog N) time and space to perform routing decisions, and O(log N) timesteps to replenish the virtual quantum links in a model of entanglement generation.
We study zero-error entanglement assisted source-channel coding (communication in the presence of side information). Adapting a technique of Beigi, we show that such coding requires existence of a set of vectors satisfying orthogonality conditions re
lated to suitably defined graphs $G$ and $H$. Such vectors exist if and only if $vartheta(overline{G}) le vartheta(overline{H})$ where $vartheta$ represents the Lovasz number. We also obtain similar inequalities for the related Schrijver $vartheta^-$ and Szegedy $vartheta^+$ numbers. These inequalities reproduce several known bounds and also lead to new results. We provide a lower bound on the entanglement assisted cost rate. We show that the entanglement assisted independence number is bounded by the Schrijver number: $alpha^*(G) le vartheta^-(G)$. Therefore, we are able to disprove the conjecture that the one-shot entanglement-assisted zero-error capacity is equal to the integer part of the Lovasz number. Beigi introduced a quantity $beta$ as an upper bound on $alpha^*$ and posed the question of whether $beta(G) = lfloor vartheta(G) rfloor$. We answer this in the affirmative and show that a related quantity is equal to $lceil vartheta(G) rceil$. We show that a quantity $chi_{textrm{vect}}(G)$ recently introduced in the context of Tsirelsons conjecture is equal to $lceil vartheta^+(overline{G}) rceil$. In an appendix we investigate multiplicativity properties of Schrijvers and Szegedys numbers, as well as projective rank.
Local operations with classical communication (LOCC) and separable operations are two classes of quantum operations that play key roles in the study of quantum entanglement. Separable operations are strictly more powerful than LOCC, but no simple exp
lanation of this phenomenon is known. We show that, in the case of von Neumann measurements, the ability to interpolate measurements is an operational principle that sets apart LOCC and separable operations.
In this paper we study the subset of generalized quantum measurements on finite dimensional systems known as local operations and classical communication (LOCC). While LOCC emerges as the natural class of operations in many important quantum informat
ion tasks, its mathematical structure is complex and difficult to characterize. Here we provide a precise description of LOCC and related operational classes in terms of quantum instruments. Our formalism captures both finite round protocols as well as those that utilize an unbounded number of communication rounds. While the set of LOCC is not topologically closed, we show that finite round LOCC constitutes a compact subset of quantum operations. Additionally we show the existence of an open ball around the completely depolarizing map that consists entirely of LOCC implementable maps. Finally, we demonstrate a two-qubit map whose action can be approached arbitrarily close using LOCC, but nevertheless cannot be implemented perfectly.
We introduce two generalizations of Kochen-Specker (KS) sets: projective KS sets and generalized KS sets. We then use projective KS sets to characterize all graphs for which the chromatic number is strictly larger than the quantum chromatic number. H
ere, the quantum chromatic number is defined via a nonlocal game based on graph coloring. We further show that from any graph with separation between these two quantities, one can construct a classical channel for which entanglement assistance increases the one-shot zero-error capacity. As an example, we exhibit a new family of classical channels with an exponential increase.
We consider the class of protocols that can be implemented by local quantum operations and classical communication (LOCC) between two parties. In particular, we focus on the task of discriminating a known set of quantum states by LOCC. Building on th
e work in the paper Quantum nonlocality without entanglement [BDF+99], we provide a framework for bounding the amount of nonlocality in a given set of bipartite quantum states in terms of a lower bound on the probability of error in any LOCC discrimination protocol. We apply our framework to an orthonormal product basis known as the domino states and obtain an alternative and simplified proof that quantifies its nonlocality. We generalize this result for similar bases in larger dimensions, as well as the rotated domino states, resolving a long-standing open question [BDF+99].
It is known that the number of different classical messages which can be communicated with a single use of a classical channel with zero probability of decoding error can sometimes be increased by using entanglement shared between sender and receiver
. It has been an open question to determine whether entanglement can ever increase the zero-error communication rates achievable in the limit of many channel uses. In this paper we show, by explicit examples, that entanglement can indeed increase asymptotic zero-error capacity, even to the extent that it is equal to the normal capacity of the channel. Interestingly, our examples are based on the exceptional simple root systems E7 and E8.
We consider a communication method, where the sender encodes n classical bits into 1 qubit and sends it to the receiver who performs a certain measurement depending on which of the initial bits must be recovered. This procedure is called (n,1,p) quan
tum random access code (QRAC) where p > 1/2 is its success probability. It is known that (2,1,0.85) and (3,1,0.79) QRACs (with no classical counterparts) exist and that (4,1,p) QRAC with p > 1/2 is not possible. We extend this model with shared randomness (SR) that is accessible to both parties. Then (n,1,p) QRAC with SR and p > 1/2 exists for any n > 0. We give an upper bound on its success probability (the known (2,1,0.85) and (3,1,0.79) QRACs match this upper bound). We discuss some particular constructions for several small values of n. We also study the classical counterpart of this model where n bits are encoded into 1 bit instead of 1 qubit and SR is used. We give an optimal construction for such codes and find their success probability exactly--it is less than in the quantum case. Interactive 3D quantum random access codes are available on-line at http://home.lanet.lv/~sd20008/racs .
