5,962 research outputs found
Simple Proof of Security of the BB84 Quantum Key Distribution Protocol
We prove the security of the 1984 protocol of Bennett and Brassard (BB84) for
quantum key distribution. We first give a key distribution protocol based on
entanglement purification, which can be proven secure using methods from Lo and
Chau's proof of security for a similar protocol. We then show that the security
of this protocol implies the security of BB84. The entanglement-purification
based protocol uses Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes, and properties of these
codes are used to remove the use of quantum computation from the Lo-Chau
protocol.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, minor changes to improve clarity and fix typo
The Power of LOCCq State Transformations
Reversible state transformations under entanglement non-increasing operations
give rise to entanglement measures. It is well known that asymptotic local
operations and classical communication (LOCC) are required to get a simple
operational measure of bipartite pure state entanglement. For bipartite mixed
states and multipartite pure states it is likely that a more powerful class of
operations will be needed. To this end \cite{BPRST01} have defined more
powerful versions of state transformations (or reducibilities), namely LOCCq
(asymptotic LOCC with a sublinear amount of quantum communication) and CLOCC
(asymptotic LOCC with catalysis). In this paper we show that {\em LOCCq state
transformations are only as powerful as asymptotic LOCC state transformations}
for multipartite pure states. We first generalize the concept of entanglement
gambling from two parties to multiple parties: any pure multipartite entangled
state can be transformed to an EPR pair shared by some pair of parties and that
any irreducible party pure state can be used to create any other
state (pure or mixed), using only local operations and classical communication
(LOCC). We then use this tool to prove the result. We mention some applications
of multipartite entanglement gambling to multipartite distillability and to
characterizations of multipartite minimal entanglement generating sets. Finally
we discuss generalizations of this result to mixed states by defining the class
of {\em cat distillable states}
Can closed timelike curves or nonlinear quantum mechanics improve quantum state discrimination or help solve hard problems?
We study the power of closed timelike curves (CTCs) and other nonlinear
extensions of quantum mechanics for distinguishing nonorthogonal states and
speeding up hard computations. If a CTC-assisted computer is presented with a
labeled mixture of states to be distinguished--the most natural formulation--we
show that the CTC is of no use. The apparent contradiction with recent claims
that CTC-assisted computers can perfectly distinguish nonorthogonal states is
resolved by noting that CTC-assisted evolution is nonlinear, so the output of
such a computer on a mixture of inputs is not a convex combination of its
output on the mixture's pure components. Similarly, it is not clear that CTC
assistance or nonlinear evolution help solve hard problems if computation is
defined as we recommend, as correctly evaluating a function on a labeled
mixture of orthogonal inputs.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Final version. Added several references, updated
discussion and introduction. Figure 1(b) very much enhance
Can non-private channels transmit quantum information?
We study the power of quantum channels with little or no capacity for private
communication. Because privacy is a necessary condition for quantum
communication, one might expect that such channels would be of little use for
transmitting quantum states. Nevertheless, we find strong evidence that there
are pairs of such channels that, when used together, can transmit far more
quantum information than the sum of their individual private capacities.
Because quantum transmissions are necessarily private, this would imply a large
violation of additivity for the private capacity. Specifically, we present
channels which display either (1) A large joint quantum capacity but very small
individual private capacities or (2) a severe violation of additivity for the
Holevo information.Comment: We both think so. 4 pages and 3 figures explain wh
The Parity Bit in Quantum Cryptography
An -bit string is encoded as a sequence of non-orthogonal quantum states.
The parity bit of that -bit string is described by one of two density
matrices, and , both in a Hilbert space of
dimension . In order to derive the parity bit the receiver must
distinguish between the two density matrices, e.g., in terms of optimal mutual
information. In this paper we find the measurement which provides the optimal
mutual information about the parity bit and calculate that information. We
prove that this information decreases exponentially with the length of the
string in the case where the single bit states are almost fully overlapping. We
believe this result will be useful in proving the ultimate security of quantum
crytography in the presence of noise.Comment: 19 pages, RevTe
Exact and Asymptotic Measures of Multipartite Pure State Entanglement
In an effort to simplify the classification of pure entangled states of multi
(m) -partite quantum systems, we study exactly and asymptotically (in n)
reversible transformations among n'th tensor powers of such states (ie n copies
of the state shared among the same m parties) under local quantum operations
and classical communication (LOCC). With regard to exact transformations, we
show that two states whose 1-party entropies agree are either locally-unitarily
(LU) equivalent or else LOCC-incomparable. In particular we show that two
tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states are LOCC-incomparable to
three bipartite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) states symmetrically shared among
the three parties. Asymptotic transformations result in a simpler
classification than exact transformations. We show that m-partite pure states
having an m-way Schmidt decomposition are simply parameterizable, with the
partial entropy across any nontrivial partition representing the number of
standard ``Cat'' states (|0^m>+|1^m>) asymptotically interconvertible to the
state in question. For general m-partite states, partial entropies across
different partitions need not be equal, and since partial entropies are
conserved by asymptotically reversible LOCC operations, a multicomponent
entanglement measure is needed, with each scalar component representing a
different kind of entanglement, not asymptotically interconvertible to the
other kinds. In particular the m=4 Cat state is not isentropic to, and
therefore not asymptotically interconvertible to, any combination of bipartite
and tripartite states shared among the four parties. Thus, although the m=4 cat
state can be prepared from bipartite EPR states, the preparation process is
necessarily irreversible, and remains so even asymptotically.Comment: 13 pages including 3 PostScript figures. v3 has updated references
and discussion, to appear Phys. Rev.
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