Classical capacity of a noiseless quantum channel assisted by noisy entanglement

Abstract

We derive the general formula for the capacity of a noiseless quantum channel assisted by an arbitrary amount of noisy entanglement. In this capacity formula, the ratio of the quantum mutual information and the von Neumann entropy of the sender's share of the noisy entanglement plays the role of mutual information in the completely classical case. A consequence of our results is that bound entangled states cannot increase the capacity of a noiseless quantum channel.