Universal finite truncation of quantum and private capacities
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Problem
Do there exist channel-independent finite integers \(m_Q\) and \(m_P\) that determine, respectively, the quantum capacity and the private classical capacity of every finite-dimensional quantum channel? Let \(V_{A\to BE}\) be a Stinespring isometry for a channel and its complement, and define coherent information by
For each \(m\geq1\), use Eq. (1) to set
For an ensemble \(\{p_x,\rho_x^{A^m}\}\), let its joint channel output be
In terms of the state in Eq. (3), define
The question is whether there exist finite integers \(m_Q\) and \(m_P\), independent of the channel dimensions and of \(\mathcal N\), such that
Source
Wilde asks whether an entropic formula evaluated on some finite tensor power could replace the regularizations in Eqs. (2) and (4). Equation (5) records the uniform, channel-independent interpretation of that question [Wil17].
Progress
Cubitt et al. proved that for every positive integer \(n\) there is a finite-dimensional channel \(\mathcal M_n\) such that
\begin{equation} Q^{(n)}(\mathcal M_n)=0 \quad\text{while}\quad Q(\mathcal M_n)>0. \tag{6} \end{equation}Equation (6) rules out every proposed universal value of \(m_Q\) [CEM+15].
Elkouss and Strelchuk proved that for every \(n\) there is a channel \(\mathcal N_n\) for which, for all \(1\leq k<n\),
\begin{equation} P^{(k)}(\mathcal N_n) <Q^{(k+1)}(\mathcal N_n) \leq P(\mathcal N_n). \tag{7} \end{equation}Choosing \(n>m_P\) in Eq. (7) rules out every universal private-information truncation \(m_P\) [ES15].
Comment
The answer to Eq. (5) is negative for both capacities. These counterexamples exclude only a channel-independent block length for the standard coherent- and private-information regularizations; they do not exclude finite stabilization for a particular channel or a different exact capacity formula.