Spread quantum information in one-shot quantum state merging

Abstract

We prove the difference between the minimal entanglement costs in quantum state merging under one-way and two-way communication in a one-shot scenario, whereas they have been known to coincide asymptotically. While the minimal entanglement cost in state merging under one-way communication is conventionally interpreted to characterize partial quantum information conditioned by quantum side information, we introduce a notion of spread quantum information evaluated by the corresponding cost under two-way communication. Spread quantum information quantitatively characterizes how nonlocally one-shot quantum information is spread, and it cannot be interpreted as partial quantum information.