Superadditivity of Quantum Channel Capacity

Abstract

Superadditivity of quantum capacity of communication channels is one of the most interesting findings of the field. Yard and Smith, finding a relation between the private capacity and the assisted quantum capacity, showed a striking example of superadditivity, i.e. two channels of zero quantum capacity could achieve a positive quantum capacity when used together [1]. The four dimensional channels they used are a 50% erasure channel (therefore zero quantum capacity, due to no-cloning theorem) and a Horodecki channel (again zero quantum capacity due to incapability of sharing free entanglement). In this work we present the more general cases of superadditivity. Directly calculating the lower bounds of joint quantum capacities without using the relation between private capacity and assisted quantum capacity, we examine scenarios considering erasure channels of arbitrary probabilities and different Horodecki channels, and discuss the roles of degradability and anti-degradability as well as the role of the private capacity in superadditivity. We also derive an upper bound for the joint quantum capacity for the superactivation case.