Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 65 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Diagonalize the source average , using its positive eigenvalues. For fixed , let project onto product eigenvectors whose eigenvalues obeyThe typical subspace theorem states that, for every and all sufficiently large ,The probability statement is the weak law of large numbers applied to ; the dimension bounds follow by summing the typical eigenvalue bounds. This explains why the quantum typical subspace retains almost all probability using about qubits.
For choose . Measure . On success, encode the projected state isometrically into a space of dimension ; on failure, output a separate fixed flag. Decode the successful sector by the inverse isometry, and map the flag to a fixed state . The compressed dimension is at most , hence fits within rate for all sufficiently large . Both maps are trace-preserving quantum channels, not merely successful postselected operations.
Writing , the composite channel isFor a pure source signal , set . Its squared quantum fidelity after the composite channel is at least . Since the source is memoryless, its average state on uses is . Convexity of the square givesThe Kraus formula for entanglement fidelity gives the same lower bound for , because one Kraus operator is and the other terms are nonnegative. Taking proves reliable compression at every , in both average pure-signal fidelity and the stronger entanglement-fidelity sense. This is typical-subspace compression with a failure flag.