Reliable Simulation of Quantum Channels: The Error Exponent

IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 71, pp. 518–529

Abstract

The Quantum Reverse Shannon Theorem has been a milestone in quantum information theory. It states that asymptotically reliable simulation of a quantum channel, assisted by unlimited shared entanglement, requires a rate of classical communication equal to the channel’s entanglement-assisted classical capacity. In this paper, we study the error exponent of quantum channel simulation, which characterizes the optimal speed of exponential convergence of the performance towards the perfect, as the blocklength increases. Based on channel purified distance, we derive lower and upper bounds for the error exponent. Then we show that the two bounds coincide when the classical communication rate is below a critical value, and hence, we have determined the exact formula of the error exponent in the low-rate case. This enables us to obtain an operational interpretation to the channel’s sandwiched Rényi information of order from 1 to 2, since our formula is expressed as a transform of this quantity. In the derivation, we have also obtained an achievability bound for quantum channel simulation in the finite-blocklength setting, which is of realistic significance.

Authors 2

1. Ke Li

   Harbin Institute of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Nangang, Harbin, China

   Harbin Institute of Technology, Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, Nangang District, Harbin, China

2. Yongsheng Yao Aachen Institute for Quantum Information

   RWTH Aachen University · Harbin Institute of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics and the School of Mathematics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

   Institute for Quantum Information, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany