Universal Limit on Communication

Raphael Bousso
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 140501 – Published 2 October 2017

Abstract

I derive a universal upper bound on the capacity of any communication channel between two distant systems. The Holevo quantity, and hence the mutual information, is at most of order EΔt/, where E is the average energy of the signal, and Δt is the amount of time for which detectors operate. The bound does not depend on the size or mass of the emitting and receiving systems, nor on the nature of the signal. No restrictions on preparing and processing the signal are imposed. As an example, I consider the encoding of information in the transverse or angular position of a signal emitted and received by systems of arbitrarily large cross section. In the limit of a large message space, quantum effects become important even if individual signals are classical, and the bound is upheld.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 12 December 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.140501

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Research Areas
Quantum Information, Science & TechnologyParticles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Raphael Bousso*

  • Center for Theoretical Physics and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

  • *bousso@lbl.gov

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 14 — 6 October 2017

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