Random coding exponents galore via decoupling

Abstract

A missing piece in quantum information theory, with very few exceptions, has been to provide the random coding exponents for quantum information-processing protocols. We remedy the situation by providing these exponents for a variety of protocols including those at the top of the family tree of protocols. Our line of attack is to provide an exponential bound on the decoupling error for a restricted class of completely positive maps where a key term in the exponent is in terms of a R\'enyi \alpha-information-theoretic quantity for any \alpha $\in$ (1,2]. Among the protocols covered are fully quantum Slepian-Wolf, quantum state merging, quantum state redistribution, quantum/classical communication across channels with side information at the transmitter with or without entanglement assistance, and quantum communication across broadcast channels.