Work

An intuitive proof of the data processing inequality

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: The data processing inequality (DPI) is a fundamental feature of information theory. Informally it states that you cannot increase the information content of a quantum system by acting on it with a local physical operation. When the smooth min-entropy is used as the relevant information measure, then the DPI follows immediately from the definition of the entropy. The DPI for the von Neumann entropy is then obtained by specializing the DPI for the smooth min-entropy by using the quantum asymptotic equipartition property (QAEP). We provide a short proof of the QAEP and therefore obtain a self-contained proof of the DPI for the von Neumann entropy.

Source: Quantum Information and Computation

DOI: 10.26421/qic12.5-6-4

Authors: Normand J. Beaudry, Renato Renner

Institutions: ETH Zurich, Institute for Theoretical Physics

Language: English

Topic: Quantum Information and Cryptography

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, FP7 Ideas: European Research Council

Awards: Generalized (quantum) information theory, G5599649393, Information-theoretic methods for physics, G628552264