Classical quantum channels enable better private communication rates
From Symmetry to Secrecy: Covariant Classical--Quantum Wiretap Channels
Information Theory
Summary
Keeping information secret when sending messages is important, especially when parts of a communication can be intercepted. This paper studies special communication channels that combine classical and quantum signals with symmetrical properties. The authors develop new methods that improve how much private information can be sent securely by exploiting these symmetrical structures. They also show examples where sending messages over multiple uses of the channel together is better than sending each separately.
What this means in practice
- •For quantum communication engineers: Design coding schemes that enhance secure message transmission by exploiting symmetrical quantum channel properties.
- •For security protocol developers: Improve private communication protocols using multi-use channel correlations enabled by group symmetries and universal hashing techniques.
Authors
Masahito Hayashi, Farzin Salek
Abstract
For classical--quantum wiretap channels with a transitive covariant input action, both output ensembles admit a description as unitary group orbits of fixed seed states. We use this structure to construct finite-block preprocessing schemes whose private information is an entropy difference evaluated at two distributions related by group convolution. Applying the construction to product groups allows correlations across any fixed number of channel uses. We give a sufficient condition for the associated uniform-input bound to equal the single-use private information. Constant-composition channel codes and universal$_2$ hashing achieve the resulting rates, with trace-distance leakage controlled by sandwiched Rényi information. For uniform outer randomization, the representation structure reduces the comparison-state optimization to Eve's invariant states. For the hybrid binary channel considered by Tikku, Berta and Renes, numerical optimization at three and four uses gives rates above our numerical estimate of the optimized noisy-repetition benchmark wherever that estimate is positive on the tested grid. The improvement comes from noise distributions beyond the family of independent physical flips and a symmetric logical flip. We also prove nonadditivity at an explicit channel parameter using a two-use encoder, an analytic single-use converse, and certified entropy bounds. Finally, we relate the hybrid model to binary phase-shift keying with a fixed receiver measurement.