Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 65 4 i 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Conjugation by a Pauli operator preserves its matching Bloch vector component and reverses the other two. Summing all three conjugations therefore sends to . The specified quantum depolarizing channel has retention factorThis Pauli-mixture parametrization of qubit depolarization differs from a convention in which itself is the retention factor. For , . A pure input gives output eigenvalues , and hence entropy by symmetry of binary entropy. Mixed inputs have a smaller output radius and at least this much entropy. Every average output has entropy at most one. ThusTwo equiprobable orthogonal pure inputs have antipodal output Bloch vectors, maximally mixed average output, and this same minimal individual output entropy. They attain the bound. Applying the coding theorem givesAt it is one; at it is zero; at it is . Negative retention reverses the labels of the two signals but does not eliminate their distinguishability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 323 5 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Write a qubit density operator in Bloch vector form, , with . The quantum depolarizing channel maps to , so its output eigenvalues are . The output Von Neumann entropy is minimized on pure inputs, where it equals .
For any input ensemble, its output Holevo quantity is at most the maximum qubit entropy minus this minimum output entropy:Equality is attained by two equiprobable orthogonal pure inputs: their average output is , while each output has the minimum entropy. ThusThis uses the question's retention parameter ; in the usual convex-mixture range, . The expression also holds throughout the full completely positive qubit range , since .
The supplied additivity of Holevo capacity gives . The Holevo-Schumacher-Westmoreland theorem expresses the unassisted classical capacity of a quantum channel as the regularized Holevo capacity, soTherefore entangled inputs across channel uses cannot increase this classical capacity.