A Compact Framework for Analyzing Asynchronous Entanglement Distribution in Quantum Networks

TL;DR

This paper presents a simplified analytical framework for evaluating asynchronous entanglement distribution in quantum networks, revealing that fidelity depends solely on total memory time and showing parallel protocols outperform sequential ones.

Contribution

Introduces a compact, scalable analytical model for analyzing entanglement fidelity in asynchronous quantum network protocols under realistic errors.

Findings

Fidelity depends only on total memory time, not individual qubit times.

Parallel protocols outperform sequential protocols in entanglement distribution.

The framework simplifies complex dynamics into an accessible analytical expression.

Abstract

This work introduces a compact framework for analyzing asynchronous entanglement distribution protocols under realistic error models. We focus on two contemporary protocols: sequential, where entanglement is established one node at a time, and parallel, where all nodes attempt to generate entanglement simultaneously. We derive an analytical expression for the fidelity of distributed entangled states, showing that the fidelity depends only on the total time all qubits spend in memory, rather than the individual memory times for each qubit. This result distills the complex dynamics of entanglement distribution into a compact accessible form, providing an scalable tool for evaluating protocol efficiency. Using this lightweight framework, we analyze the performance of parallel and sequential protocols, demonstrating that parallel distribution consistently outperforms sequential and highlighting the potential of parallel protocols for practical quantum network implementations.