Channel capacities via p-summing norms

Abstract

In this paper we show how the metric theory of tensor products developed by Grothendieck perfectly fits in the study of channel capacities, a central topic in Shannon’s information theory. Furthermore, in the last years Shannon’s theory has been fully generalized to the quantum setting, and revealed qualitatively new phenomena in comparison. In this paper we consider the classical capacity of quantum channels with restricted assisted entanglement. These capacities include the classical capacity and the unlimited entanglement-assisted classical capacity of a quantum channel. Our approach to restricted capacities is based on tools from functional analysis, and in particular the notion of p-summing maps going back to Grothendieck’s work. Pisier’s noncommutative vector-valued Lp spaces allow us to establish the new connection between functional analysis and information theory in the quantum setting.