Farzin Salek

We ask how quantum correlations can be distributed among many subsystems. To address this, we define entanglement sharing schemes (ESS) where certain pairs of subsystems allow entanglement to be recovered via local operations, while other pairs must not. ESS schemes come in two variants, one where the partner system with which entanglement should be prepared is known, and one where it is not. In the case of known partners, we fully characterize the access structures realizable for ESS when using stabilizer states, and construct efficient schemes for threshold access structures, and give a conjecture for the access structures realizable with general states. In the unknown partner case, we again give a complete characterization in the stabilizer setting, additionally give a complete characterization of the case where there are no restrictions on unauthorized pairs, and we prove a set of necessary conditions on general schemes which we conjecture are also sufficient. Finally, we give an application of the theory of entanglement sharing to resolve an open problem related to the distribution of entanglement in response to time sensitive requests in quantum networks.

Quantum optical systems are typically affected by two types of noise: photon loss and dephasing. Despite extensive research on each noise process individually, a comprehensive understanding of their combined effect is still lacking. A crucial problem lies in determining the values of loss and dephasing for which the resulting loss-dephasing channel is anti-degradable, implying the absence of codes capable of correcting its effect or, alternatively, capable of enabling quantum communication. A conjecture in [Quantum 6, 821 (2022)] suggested that the bosonic loss-dephasing channel is not anti-degradable if the loss is below 50%. In this paper we refute this conjecture, specifically proving that for any value of the loss, if the dephasing is above a critical value, then the bosonic loss-dephasing channel is anti-degradable. While our result identifies a large parameter region where quantum communication is not possible, we also prove that if two-way classical communication is available, then quantum communication — and thus quantum key distribution — is always achievable, even for high values of loss and dephasing.

We investigate $(k_1,k_2)$-extendibility of fermionic Gaussian states, a property central to quantum correlations and approximations of separability. We show that these states are $(k_1,k_2)$-extendible if and only if they admit a fermionic Gaussian extension, yielding a complete covariance-matrix characterization and a simple semidefinite program (SDP) whose size scales linearly with the number of modes. This provides necessary conditions for arbitrary fermionic states and is sufficient within the Gaussian setting. Our main result is a finite de Finetti--type theorem: we derive trace-norm bounds between $(k_1,k_2)$-extendible fermionic Gaussian states and separable states, improving previous exponential scaling to linear in the number of modes, with complementary relative entropy and squashed entanglement bounds. For two modes, upper and lower bounds match at order $1/\sqrt{k_1 k_2}$. Extendibility also provides operational support for one of the different notions of separability in fermionic systems. Finally, for fermionic Gaussian channels, we provide an SDP criterion for anti-degradability and show that entanglement-breaking channels coincide with replacement channels, implying no nontrivial entanglement-breaking fermionic Gaussian channels exist.

We investigate the generation of EPR pairs between three observers in a general causally structured setting, where communication occurs via a noisy quantum broadcast channel. The most general quantum codes for this setup take the form of tripartite quantum channels. Since the receivers are constrained by causal ordering, additional temporal relationships naturally emerge between the parties. These causal constraints enforce intrinsic no-signalling conditions on any tripartite operation, ensuring that it constitutes a physically realizable quantum code for a quantum broadcast channel. We analyze these constraints and, more broadly, characterize the most general quantum codes for communication over such channels. We examine the capabilities of codes that are fully no-signalling among the three parties, positive partial transpose (PPT)-preserving, or both, and derive simple semidefinite programs to compute the achievable entanglement fidelity. We then establish a hierarchy of semidefinite programming converse bounds—both weak and strong—for the capacity of quantum broadcast channels for EPR pair generation, in both one-shot and asymptotic regimes. Notably, in the special case of a point-to-point channel, our strong converse bound recovers and strengthens existing results. Finally, we demonstrate how the PPT-preserving codes we develop can be leveraged to construct PPT-preserving entanglement combing schemes, and vice versa.