Asymptotic Estimates in Information Theory with Non-Vanishing Error Probabilities

This monograph presents a unified treatment of single- and multi-user problems in Shannon's information theory where we depart from the requirement that the error probability decays asymptotically in the blocklength. Instead, the error probabilities for various problems are bounded above by a non-vanishing constant and the spotlight is shone on achievable coding rates as functions of the growing blocklengths. This represents the study of asymptotic estimates with non-vanishing error probabilities. In Part I, after reviewing the fundamentals of information theory, we discuss Strassen's seminal result for binary hypothesis testing where the type-I error probability is non-vanishing and the rate of decay of the type-II error probability with growing number of independent observations is characterized. In Part II, we use this basic hypothesis testing result to develop second- and sometimes, even third-order asymptotic expansions for point-to-point communication. Finally in Part III, we consider network information theory problems for which the second-order asymptotics are known. These problems include some classes of channels with random state, the multiple-encoder distributed lossless source coding (Slepian-Wolf) problem and special cases of the Gaussian interference and multiple-access channels. Finally, we discuss avenues for further research.Comment: Further comments welcom

Quantum broadcast channels

We consider quantum channels with one sender and two receivers, used in several different ways for the simultaneous transmission of independent messages. We begin by extending the technique of superposition coding to quantum channels with a classical input to give a general achievable region. We also give outer bounds to the capacity regions for various special cases from the classical literature and prove that superposition coding is optimal for a class of channels. We then consider extensions of superposition coding for channels with a quantum input, where some of the messages transmitted are quantum instead of classical, in the sense that the parties establish bipartite or tripartite GHZ entanglement. We conclude by using state merging to give achievable rates for establishing bipartite entanglement between different pairs of parties with the assistance of free classical communication.Comment: 15 pages; IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol. 57, no. 10, October 201

Capacity Theorems for Quantum Multiple Access Channels: Classical-Quantum and Quantum-Quantum Capacity Regions

We consider quantum channels with two senders and one receiver. For an arbitrary such channel, we give multi-letter characterizations of two different two-dimensional capacity regions. The first region is comprised of the rates at which it is possible for one sender to send classical information, while the other sends quantum information. The second region consists of the rates at which each sender can send quantum information. For each region, we give an example of a channel for which the corresponding region has a single-letter description. One of our examples relies on a new result proved here, perhaps of independent interest, stating that the coherent information over any degradable channel is concave in the input density operator. We conclude with connections to other work and a discussion on generalizations where each user simultaneously sends classical and quantum information.Comment: 38 pages, 1 figure. Fixed typos, added new example. Submitted to IEEE Tranactions on Information Theor

A Resource Framework for Quantum Shannon Theory

Quantum Shannon theory is loosely defined as a collection of coding theorems, such as classical and quantum source compression, noisy channel coding theorems, entanglement distillation, etc., which characterize asymptotic properties of quantum and classical channels and states. In this paper we advocate a unified approach to an important class of problems in quantum Shannon theory, consisting of those that are bipartite, unidirectional and memoryless. We formalize two principles that have long been tacitly understood. First, we describe how the Church of the larger Hilbert space allows us to move flexibly between states, channels, ensembles and their purifications. Second, we introduce finite and asymptotic (quantum) information processing resources as the basic objects of quantum Shannon theory and recast the protocols used in direct coding theorems as inequalities between resources. We develop the rules of a resource calculus which allows us to manipulate and combine resource inequalities. This framework simplifies many coding theorem proofs and provides structural insights into the logical dependencies among coding theorems. We review the above-mentioned basic coding results and show how a subset of them can be unified into a family of related resource inequalities. Finally, we use this family to find optimal trade-off curves for all protocols involving one noisy quantum resource and two noiseless ones.Comment: 60 page

Many-Access Channels: The Gaussian Case with Random User Activities

Classical multiuser information theory studies the fundamental limits of models with a fixed (often small) number of users as the coding blocklength goes to infinity. This work proposes a new paradigm, referred to as many-user information theory, where the number of users is allowed to grow with the blocklength. This paradigm is motivated by emerging systems with a massive number of users in an area, such as machine-to-machine communication systems and sensor networks. The focus of the current paper is the many-access channel model, which consists of a single receiver and many transmitters, whose number increases unboundedly with the blocklength. Moreover, an unknown subset of transmitters may transmit in a given block and need to be identified. A new notion of capacity is introduced and characterized for the Gaussian many-access channel with random user activities. The capacity can be achieved by first detecting the set of active users and then decoding their messages.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Proceedings of ISIT 201