Recoupling Coefficients and Quantum Entropies

We prove that the asymptotic behavior of the recoupling coefficients of the symmetric group S_k is characterized by a quantum marginal problem: they decay polynomially in k if there exists a quantum state of three particles with given eigenvalues for their reduced density operators and exponentially otherwise. As an application, we deduce solely from symmetry considerations of the coefficients the strong subadditivity property of the von Neumann entropy, first proved by Lieb and Ruskai (J Math Phys 14:1938–1941, 1973). Our work may be seen as a non-commutative generalization of the representation-theoretic aspect of the recently found connection between the quantum marginal problem and the Kronecker coefficient of the symmetric group, which has applications in quantum information theory and algebraic complexity theory. This connection is known to generalize the correspondence between Weyl’s problem on the addition of Hermitian matrices and the Littlewood–Richardson coefficients of SU(d). In this sense, our work may also be regarded as a generalization of Wigner’s famous observation of the semiclassical behavior of the recoupling coefficients (here also known as 6j or Racah coefficients), which decay polynomially whenever a tetrahedron with given edge lengths exists. More precisely, we show that our main theorem contains a characterization of the possible eigenvalues of partial sums of Hermitian matrices thus presenting a representation-theoretic characterization of a generalization of Weyl’s problem. The appropriate geometric objects to SU(d) recoupling coefficients are thus tuples of Hermitian matrices and to S_k recoupling coefficients they are three-particle quantum states

On Nonzero Kronecker Coefficients and their Consequences for Spectra

A triple of spectra (r^A, r^B, r^{AB}) is said to be admissible if there is a density operator rho^{AB} with (Spec rho^A, Spec rho^B, Spec rho^{AB})=(r^A, r^B, r^{AB}). How can we characterise such triples? It turns out that the admissible spectral triples correspond to Young diagrams (mu, nu, lambda) with nonzero Kronecker coefficient [M. Christandl and G. Mitchison, to appear in Comm. Math. Phys., quant-ph/0409016; A. Klyachko, quant-ph/0409113]. This means that the irreducible representation V_lambda is contained in the tensor product of V_mu and V_nu. Here, we show that such triples form a finitely generated semigroup, thereby resolving a conjecture of Klyachko. As a consequence we are able to obtain stronger results than in [M. Ch. and G. M. op. cit.] and give a complete information-theoretic proof of the correspondence between triples of spectra and representations. Finally, we show that spectral triples form a convex polytope.Comment: 13 page

When Do Composed Maps Become Entanglement Breaking?

For many completely positive maps repeated compositions will eventually become entanglement breaking. To quantify this behaviour we develop a technique based on the Schmidt number: If a completely positive map breaks the entanglement with respect to any qubit ancilla, then applying it to part of a bipartite quantum state will result in a Schmidt number bounded away from the maximum possible value. Iterating this result puts a successively decreasing upper bound on the Schmidt number arising in this way from compositions of such a map. By applying this technique to completely positive maps in dimension three that are also completely copositive we prove the so called PPT squared conjecture in this dimension. We then give more examples of completely positive maps where our technique can be applied, e.g.~maps close to the completely depolarizing map, and maps of low rank. Finally, we study the PPT squared conjecture in more detail, establishing equivalent conjectures related to other parts of quantum information theory, and we prove the conjecture for Gaussian quantum channels.Comment: 24 pages, no picture

Recoupling Coefficients and Quantum Entropies

We prove that the asymptotic behavior of the recoupling coefficients of the symmetric group S_k is characterized by a quantum marginal problem: they decay polynomially in k if there exists a quantum state of three particles with given eigenvalues for their reduced density operators and exponentially otherwise. As an application, we deduce solely from symmetry considerations of the coefficients the strong subadditivity property of the von Neumann entropy, first proved by Lieb and Ruskai (J Math Phys 14:1938–1941, 1973). Our work may be seen as a non-commutative generalization of the representation-theoretic aspect of the recently found connection between the quantum marginal problem and the Kronecker coefficient of the symmetric group, which has applications in quantum information theory and algebraic complexity theory. This connection is known to generalize the correspondence between Weyl’s problem on the addition of Hermitian matrices and the Littlewood–Richardson coefficients of SU(d). In this sense, our work may also be regarded as a generalization of Wigner’s famous observation of the semiclassical behavior of the recoupling coefficients (here also known as 6j or Racah coefficients), which decay polynomially whenever a tetrahedron with given edge lengths exists. More precisely, we show that our main theorem contains a characterization of the possible eigenvalues of partial sums of Hermitian matrices thus presenting a representation-theoretic characterization of a generalization of Weyl’s problem. The appropriate geometric objects to SU(d) recoupling coefficients are thus tuples of Hermitian matrices and to S_k recoupling coefficients they are three-particle quantum states

Catalytic Decoupling of Quantum Information

The decoupling technique is a fundamental tool in quantum information theory with applications ranging from quantum thermodynamics to quantum many body physics to the study of black hole radiation. In this work we introduce the notion of catalytic decoupling, that is, decoupling in the presence of an uncorrelated ancilla system. This removes a restriction on the standard notion of decoupling, which becomes important for structureless resources, and yields a tight characterization in terms of the max-mutual information. Catalytic decoupling naturally unifies various tasks like the erasure of correlations and quantum state merging, and leads to a resource theory of decoupling

High Entropy Random Selection Protocols

In this paper, we construct protocols for two parties that do not trust each other, to generate random variables with high Shannon entropy. We improve known bounds for the trade off between the number of rounds, length of communication and the entropy of the outcome

Tomographic Quantum Cryptography: Equivalence of Quantum and Classical Key Distillation

The security of a cryptographic key that is generated by communication through a noisy quantum channel relies on the ability to distill a shorter secure key sequence from a longer insecure one. For an important class of protocols, which exploit tomographically complete measurements on entangled pairs of any dimension, we show that the noise threshold for classical advantage distillation is identical with the threshold for quantum entanglement distillation. As a consequence, the two distillation procedures are equivalent: neither offers a security advantage over the other.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

The Uncertainty Principle in the Presence of Quantum Memory

The uncertainty principle, originally formulated by Heisenberg, dramatically illustrates the difference between classical and quantum mechanics. The principle bounds the uncertainties about the outcomes of two incompatible measurements, such as position and momentum, on a particle. It implies that one cannot predict the outcomes for both possible choices of measurement to arbitrary precision, even if information about the preparation of the particle is available in a classical memory. However, if the particle is prepared entangled with a quantum memory, a device which is likely to soon be available, it is possible to predict the outcomes for both measurement choices precisely. In this work we strengthen the uncertainty principle to incorporate this case, providing a lower bound on the uncertainties which depends on the amount of entanglement between the particle and the quantum memory. We detail the application of our result to witnessing entanglement and to quantum key distribution.Comment: 5 pages plus 12 of supplementary information. Updated to match the journal versio

Asymptotic performance of port-based teleportation

Quantum teleportation is one of the fundamental building blocks of quantum Shannon theory. While ordinary teleportation is simple and efficient, port-based teleportation (PBT) enables applications such as universal programmable quantum processors, instantaneous non-local quantum computation and attacks on position-based quantum cryptography. In this work, we determine the fundamental limit on the performance of PBT: for arbitrary fixed input dimension and a large number N of ports, the error of the optimal protocol is proportional to the inverse square of N. We prove this by deriving an achievability bound, obtained by relating the corresponding optimization problem to the lowest Dirichlet eigenvalue of the Laplacian on the ordered simplex. We also give an improved converse bound of matching order in the number of ports. In addition, we determine the leading-order asymptotics of PBT variants defined in terms of maximally entangled resource states. The proofs of these results rely on connecting recently-derived representation-theoretic formulas to random matrix theory. Along the way, we refine a convergence result for the fluctuations of the Schur-Weyl distribution by Johansson, which might be of independent interest