Holevo capacity of a qubit depolarizing channel

For the retention parameter $p$, the Holevo capacity isEvery output has Von Neumann entropy at least the value on a pure input, $h_2((1+p)/2)$. Two equiprobable orthogonal pure inputs attain this minimum entropy individually and have maximally mixed average output, attaining the bound. Additivity of Holevo capacity makes the unassisted classical capacity of a quantum channel equal to this value. King's depolarizing-channel capacity paper proves additivity with an arbitrary other channel.

For $\Phi (\rho )=p\rho +(1-p)I/2$, every output qubit has Von Neumann entropy at least $h((1-p)/2)$. A product input therefore has output entropy at least $nh((1-p)/2)$. The average output has entropy at most $n$, so its Holevo quantity is bounded by the displayed expression. This allows correlated classical message labels and joint output measurements, but requires product quantum inputs. The Holevo bound and Fano's inequality turn it into the corresponding asymptotic rate bound.