Limited path entanglement percolation in quantum complex networks

TL;DR

This paper explores how quantum complex networks can be optimized for entanglement distribution using local operations, improving connectivity and communication fidelity, especially in noisy conditions, with implications for quantum information transfer.

Contribution

It introduces quantum preprocessing strategies that lower entanglement percolation thresholds and enhance network connectivity, supported by analytic and numerical results.

Findings

Quantum operations can rewire networks to improve entanglement distribution.

Enhanced percolation thresholds increase the size of the giant connected component.

Complex networks outperform regular lattices in noisy quantum communication scenarios.

Abstract

We study entanglement distribution in quantum complex networks where nodes are connected by bipartite entangled states. These networks are characterized by a complex structure, which dramatically affects how information is transmitted through them. For pure quantum state links, quantum networks exhibit a remarkable feature absent in classical networks: it is possible to effectively rewire the network by performing local operations on the nodes. We propose a family of such quantum operations that decrease the entanglement percolation threshold of the network and increase the size of the giant connected component. We provide analytic results for complex networks with arbitrary (uncorrelated) degree distribution. These results are in good agreement with numerical simulations, which also show enhancement in correlated and real world networks. The proposed quantum preprocessing strategies are not robust in the presence of noise. However, even when the links consist of (noisy) mixed state links, one can send quantum information through a connecting path with a fidelity that decreases with the path length. In this noisy scenario, complex networks offer a clear advantage over regular lattices, namely the fact that two arbitrary nodes can be connected through a relatively small number of steps, known as the small world effect. We calculate the probability that two arbitrary nodes in the network can successfully communicate with a fidelity above a given threshold. This amounts to working out the classical problem of percolation with limited path length. We find that this probability can be significant even for paths limited to few connections, and that the results for standard (unlimited) percolation are soon recovered if the path length exceeds by a finite amount the average path length, which in complex networks generally scales logarithmically with the size of the network.