Quantum erasure channel (${\mathcal{E}}_p(\rho )=(1-p)\rho \oplus p|e⟩⟨e|$)

A quantum erasure channel transmits an input state unchanged with probability $1-p$ and replaces it by an orthogonal, recognizable erasure flag with probability $p$. Its output space has one more dimension than the input. This is a quantum channel for $0\le p\le 1$ and preserves all input coherences on the nonerased branch.

For input dimension $D$, an input of entropy $S(\rho )$ gives output entropy $h_2(p)+(1-p)S(\rho )$ and reference-output entropy $h_2(p)+pS(\rho )$. These follow from entropy of an orthogonal quantum mixture and purity of the input purification. Thus the quantum mutual information is $2(1-p)S(\rho )$, maximized at $\rho =I_D/D$. The entanglement-assisted classical capacity is consequently $2(1-p){\log }_{2}D$ bits per use; for a binary input it is $2(1-p)$.