Effects of gravity on quantum key distribution

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Earth's gravity influences the performance of quantum key distribution protocols using continuous variable states, highlighting that effects vary with configuration and scheme.

Contribution

It introduces a general method to analyze gravitational effects on quantum key distribution protocols for continuous variable states.

Findings

Gravity effects depend on protocol configuration

Performance varies with cryptographic scheme

Provides a framework for future gravitational quantum communication studies

Abstract

The domain of quantum technologies has been recently broaden to satellites orbiting the earth. Long distances communication protocols cannot ignore the presence of the gravitational field and its effects on the quantum states. Here, we provide a general method to investigate how gravity affects the performance of various quantum key distribution protocols for continuous variable states of localized wave packets. We show that the consequences of gravity strongly depend on the configuration and the cryptographic scheme used.