No Practical Quantum Broadcasting: Even Virtually
Abstract
Quantum information cannot be broadcast -- an intrinsic limitation imposed by quantum mechanics. However, recent advances in virtual operations offer new insights into the no-broadcasting theorem. Here, we focus on the practical utility and introduce sample efficiency as a fundamental constraint, requiring any practical broadcasting protocol perform no worse than the na\"ive approach of direct preparation and distribution. We prove that no linear process -- whether quantum or beyond -- can simultaneously uphold sample efficiency, unitary covariance, permutation invariance, and classical consistency. This leads to a no-practical-broadcasting theorem, which places strict limits on the practical distribution of quantum information. By applying Schur-Weyl duality, we establish the uniqueness of the canonical 1-to- virtual broadcasting map that satisfies the latter three conditions, provide its construction, and determine its sample complexity through semidefinite programming. Finally, we explore the interplay between virtual broadcasting and a quantum spacetime framework, known as the pseudo-density operator, showing that their correspondence holds only in the 1-to-2 case, underscoring the fundamental asymmetry between spatial and temporal statistics in the quantum world.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2503.16380,
title = {No Practical Quantum Broadcasting: Even Virtually},
author = {Yunlong Xiao and Xiangjing Liu and Zhenhuan Liu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.16380},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
6 pages, 2 captioned figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters