Optimal unilocal virtual quantum broadcasting

Quantum broadcasting is central to quantum information processing and characterizes the correlations within quantum states. Nonetheless, traditional quantum broadcasting encounters inherent limitations dictated by the principles of quantum mechanics. In a previous study, Parzygnat et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 110203 (2024)] introduced a canonical broadcasting quantum map that goes beyond the quantum no-broadcasting theorem through a virtual process. In this work, we generalize the concept of virtual broadcasting to unilocal broadcasting by incorporating a reference system and introduce protocols that can be approximated using physical operations with minimal cost. First, we propose a universal unilocal protocol enabling multiple parties to share the correlations of a target bipartite state, which is encoded in the expectation value for any observable. Second, we formalize the simulation cost of a virtual quantum broadcasting protocol into a semidefinite programming problem. Notably, we propose a specific protocol with optimal simulation cost for the 2-broadcasting scenario, revealing an explicit relationship between simulation cost and the quantum system's dimension. Moreover, we establish upper and lower bounds on the simulation cost of the virtual $n$-broadcasting protocol and demonstrate the convergence of the lower bound to the upper bound as the quantum system's dimension increases.