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Title: One-way quantum key distribution: Simple upper bound on the secret key rate

Journal Article · · Physical Review. A
;  [1];  [1]
  1. Institute of Theoretical Physics I and Max-Planck Research Group, Institute of Optics, Information and Photonics, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Staudtstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen (Germany)

We present a simple method to obtain an upper bound on the achievable secret key rate in quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols that use only unidirectional classical communication during the public-discussion phase. This method is based on a necessary precondition for one-way secret key distillation; the legitimate users need to prove that there exists no quantum state having a symmetric extension that is compatible with the available measurements results. The main advantage of the obtained upper bound is that it can be formulated as a semidefinite program, which can be efficiently solved. We illustrate our results by analyzing two well-known qubit-based QKD protocols: the four-state protocol and the six-state protocol.

OSTI ID:
20974692
Journal Information:
Physical Review. A, Vol. 74, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.74.052301; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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