quantum communication designers

Abstract: Additive codes over $\Ffour$ that are self-orthogonal under the trace inner product correspond to binary quantum stabilizer codes. We study 1-generator $(1,2)$-quasi-cyclic (QC) additive codes and their exact quantum distances. For composite lengths $n=\ell m$, an ancestor-lifting theorem transports dual words of the folded ancestor to the length-$n$ code. A two-layer decomposition for $\ell=2$ and a CRT splitting for odd $\ell$ yield dimension laws and explain equality, escape, and mixed-branch behavior in the certified examples. A palindromic criterion ensures symplectic self-orthogonality, while reversal pairing and a symplectic Gram rank formula describe broader construction families. Exact distances are established by information-set decoding screening, Brouwer--Zimmermann computation on the additive dual, and independent witness verification. We certify twenty-one record-breaking binary quantum codes across twenty entries of Grassl's code table, with twenty-eight certified members in total. Propagation improves thirty-four further entries, and explicit constructions are supplied for three table-tying GV entries marked Code Missing Construction. Six additional candidates are reported only with rigorous upper bounds and heuristic screening evidence. The results connect divisor-lattice structure in additive quasi-cyclic codes with reproducible certification of exact quantum distances.

Abstract: We study a variant of Schumacher compression. The task asks for the minimal memory cost for compressing many copies of a density matrix with known spectrum and unknown eigenbasis, without preserving its purification. For fixed dimension and distinct positive eigenvalues, we obtain the cost through its additive constant. Achievability uses a generalization of Werner's cloning map to $\mathrm{GL}(d,\mathbb C)$ irreducible representations, with finite trace-distance bounds controlled by highest-weight differences and row gaps. The matching converse follows from a quantitative form of Koashi--Imoto incompressibility for irreducible group orbits under a spectral-gap assumption. We also identify the relation between this quantum minimum description length and universal lossless coding overhead, and its connection to free entropy is explained in a companion letter. We provide a Lean certificate for our proofs.

Abstract: Quantum fire consists of quantum states that can be efficiently functionally cloned but cannot be transmitted using one-way classical communication. Whereas all previous quantum-fire constructions with proven untelegraphability are relative to an oracle, ours, based on one-shot signatures, is in the standard model. Our construction achieves two further notions that we introduce: (a) keyless untelegraphability, a strengthening of untelegraphability; and (b) conversability, meaning that a flame, though not telegraphable via one-way classical communication, can be transmitted via classical interaction. Hence one-way and two-way classical communication differ qualitatively in their power to transmit this quantum fire. We use these two novel properties of quantum fire, along with its clonability, to give one of the first cryptographic applications of quantum fire. Keyless untelegraphability forces the distribution of serial numbers of valid flames to have high min-entropy, while conversability and clonability allow the corresponding flame to be cloned and transferred using only classical communication. We present two variants of our conversable quantum-fire construction. The first, based on one-shot signatures (instantiable from subexponential iO, subexponentially secure one-way functions, and LWE), supports polynomially many flames, and super-logarithmic min-entropy of the serial-number distribution. The second, under the stronger assumption of exponentially unforgeable one-shot signatures (instantiable relative to a classical oracle), supports exponentially many flames, and linear min-entropy.