Information capacity of quantum communication under natural physical assumptions

Jef Pauwels; Stefano Pironio; Armin Tavakoli

doi:10.22331/q-2025-02-18-1637

Information capacity of quantum communication under natural physical assumptions

Jef Pauwels^1,2, Stefano Pironio³, and Armin Tavakoli⁴

¹Department of Applied Physics, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
²Constructor Institute of Technology (CIT), Geneva, Switzerland
³Laboratoire d'Information Quantique, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium
⁴Department of Physics and NanoLund, Lund University, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden

Published:	2025-02-18, volume 9, page 1637
Editor:	Remigiusz Augusiak
Eprint:	arXiv:2405.07231v3
Doi:	https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2025-02-18-1637
Citation:	Quantum 9, 1637 (2025).

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Abstract

The quantum prepare-and-measure scenario has been studied under various physical assumptions on the emitted states. Here, we first discuss how different assumptions are conceptually and formally related. We then identify one that can serve as a relaxation of all others, corresponding to a limitation on the one-shot accessible information of the state ensemble. This motivates us to study the optimal state discrimination probability of a source subject to these various physical assumptions. We derive general and tight bounds for states restricted by their quantum dimension, their vacuum component, an arbitrary uniform overlap, the magnitude of higher-dimensional signals and the experimenter's trust in their device. Our results constitute a first step towards a more unified picture of semi-device-independent quantum information processing.

► BibTeX data

@article{Pauwels2025informationcapacity,
  doi = {10.22331/q-2025-02-18-1637},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2025-02-18-1637},
  title = {Information capacity of quantum communication under natural physical assumptions},
  author = {Pauwels, Jef and Pironio, Stefano and Tavakoli, Armin},
  journal = {{Quantum}},
  issn = {2521-327X},
  publisher = {{Verein zur F{\"{o}}rderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften}},
  volume = {9},
  pages = {1637},
  month = feb,
  year = {2025}
}

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Cited by

[1] Carles Roch i Carceller, Jef Pauwels, Stefano Pironio, and Armin Tavakoli, "Prepare-and-Measure Scenarios with Photon-Number Constraints", Physical Review Letters 135 14, 140802 (2025).

[2] Matilde Baroni, Eleni Diamanti, Damian Markham, and Ivan Šupić, "Translating Bell nonlocality to prepare-and-measure scenarios under dimensional constraints", Physical Review A 112 6, 062220 (2025).

[3] Carles Roch i Carceller and Alexander Bernal, "Global restrictions under local state discrimination", Physical Review A 111 4, 042422 (2025).

[4] Carles Roch i Carceller, "Entanglement structure certification based on energy-restricted state discrimination", New Journal of Physics 28 2, 024509 (2026).

[5] Moisés Alves, Vitor L. Sena, Santiago Zamora, Tailan S. Sarubi, A. de Oliveira Junior, Alexandre B. Tacla, and Rafael Chaves, "Semi-device-independent randomness certification on discretized continuous-variable platforms", Physical Review A 113 4, 042418 (2026).

[6] Caroline L. Jones, Albert Aloy, Gerard Higgins, and Markus P. Müller, "Certified Randomness From Quantum Speed Limits", PRX Quantum 7 1, 010349 (2026).

[7] Anubhav Chaturvedi, Marcin Pawłowski, and Debashis Saha, "Epistemic incompleteness of quantum theory", Physical Review A 113 4, 042445 (2026).

[8] Rafael Wagner, Filipa C. R. Peres, Emmanuel Zambrini Cruzeiro, and Ernesto F. Galvão, "Unitary-invariant method for witnessing nonstabilizerness in quantum processors", Journal of Physics A Mathematical General 58 28, 285302 (2025).

[9] Sophie Egelhaaf, Jef Pauwels, Marco Túlio Quintino, and Roope Uola, "Certifying measurement incompatibility in prepare-and-measure and Bell scenarios", Journal of Physics A Mathematical General 58 9, 095304 (2025).

[10] Satyaki Manna, Anubhav Chaturvedi, and Debashis Saha, "Unbounded quantum advantage in communication complexity measured by distinguishability", Physical Review Research 6 4, 043269 (2024).

[11] Gábor Drótos, Károly F. Pál, and Tamás Vértesi, "Self-testing of semisymmetric informationally complete measurements in a qubit prepare-and-measure scenario", Physical Review A 110 3, 032427 (2024).

[12] Rafael Wagner, "Coherence and contextuality as quantum resources", arXiv:2511.16785, (2025).

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