Fidelity of a Quantum ARQ Protocol

Abstract

We consider a generalization of a classical ARQ protocol for the case of quantum error correcting codes and the quantum depolarizing channel. We define the fidelity of the ARQ protocol as the probability that the outcome of a measurement of the received quantum state is collinear to the transmitted quantum state, under the condition that the measurement outcome belongs to the code space. Further, we derive tight upper and lower bounds on the exponent of the fidelity of the ARQ protocol. The obtained bounds show a threshold behavior of the fidelity. Namely, in asymptotics, as the code length tends to infinity, the fidelity tends to either 1 or 0 depending on the code rate and the probability of error of the quantum depolarizing channel.