Conclusive Identification Via Noisy Classical Channel: Superactivation and Quantum Advantage

TL;DR

This paper introduces a conclusive identification task for classical channels, revealing superactivation phenomena and quantum advantages linked to combinatorial graph properties, challenging traditional zero-error communication limits.

Contribution

It demonstrates superactivation and quantum advantage in conclusive identification, connecting these phenomena to graph-theoretic properties and quantum contextuality.

Findings

Superactivation allows zero-identifiable channels to identify all inputs with assistance.

Quantum channels can outperform classical assistance when the orthogonal rank is less than the chromatic number.

Explicit constructions show exponential quantum advantage over classical methods.

Abstract

We introduce conclusive identification task for classical channels: a receiver identifies transmitted inputs without error when possible, and responds inconclusively when outputs are ambiguous. For a symmetric not-fully-corrupted channel $N : X \to X$, the single-shot conclusive identification index $\mathrm{ci}_\circ(N)$ counts the maximum number of conclusively identifiable inputs. We show $\mathrm{ci}_\circ(N)$ exhibits a striking superactivation phenomenon: a channel with $\mathrm{ci}_\circ(N) = 0$ achieves $\mathrm{ci}_\circ(N \otimes \mathrm{id}^c_\beta) = |X|$ when assisted by a perfect classical channel of dimension $\beta < |X|$. The minimum classical assistance required equals the chromatic number $\chi(\mathtt{S}_N)$ of the channel's support graph $\mathtt{S}_N$. We provide channel families where the superactivation gap $\mathrm{ci}_\circ(N \otimes \mathrm{id}^c_\beta) - \mathrm{ci}_\circ(\mathrm{id}^c_\beta)$ can be made arbitrarily large. A noiseless quantum channel of dimension equal to the orthogonal rank $\xi(\mathtt{S}_N)$ suffices, yielding a strict quantum advantage whenever $\xi(\mathtt{S}_N) < \chi(\mathtt{S}_N)$. This advantage is demonstrated through three explicit constructions motivated by combinatorial and algebraic state-independent, and state-dependent proofs of Kochen-Specker contextuality. Via the co-normal product of graphs, we analyze the scaling of the quantum advantage ratio $\chi_f(\mathtt{S}_N)/\xi(\mathtt{S}_N)$, and present a channel for which quantum assistance is exponentially more efficient than classical. Our results establish $\mathtt{S}_N$, rather than the confusability graph $\mathtt{G}_N$, as the natural combinatorial object for conclusive identification, revealing that channels deemed useless under Shannon's zero-error framework can exhibit rich superactivation and quantum advantage, with deep connections to quantum contextuality.