Tighter Asymptotic Key Rates for Intensity-Correlated Decoy-State QKD via Nonlinear Programming

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Pivoluska, Matej, Araújo, Mateus
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Pivoluska, Matej
Araújo, Mateus
author_facet Pivoluska, Matej
Araújo, Mateus
contents Decoy-state QKD with phase-randomized weak coherent pulses is typically analyzed assuming independent, precisely prepared intensities. Real sources, however, can exhibit correlated intensity drift across rounds, potentially leaking intensity information and breaking the standard decoy-state reduction to linear programs. Cauchy--Schwarz (CS) constraints can restore security by coupling $n$-photon yields across intensities, but they introduce nonlinear square-root constraints that are commonly handled via outer linearisation around channel-model-based reference points. We propose a reproducible alternative: first solve the full CS-constrained parameter-estimation problems using the interior-point nonlinear solver IPOPT, then use the resulting candidate solution as the linearisation point for the outer optimisation that certifies a valid lower bound on the asymptotic key rate. Simulations for both coarse-grained model-independent correlations and fine-grained truncated-Gaussian models show consistently tighter key-rate bounds than canonical reference points, and in some cases allow certifying optimality when both optimisation stages coincide.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_04966
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tighter Asymptotic Key Rates for Intensity-Correlated Decoy-State QKD via Nonlinear Programming
Pivoluska, Matej
Araújo, Mateus
Quantum Physics
Decoy-state QKD with phase-randomized weak coherent pulses is typically analyzed assuming independent, precisely prepared intensities. Real sources, however, can exhibit correlated intensity drift across rounds, potentially leaking intensity information and breaking the standard decoy-state reduction to linear programs. Cauchy--Schwarz (CS) constraints can restore security by coupling $n$-photon yields across intensities, but they introduce nonlinear square-root constraints that are commonly handled via outer linearisation around channel-model-based reference points. We propose a reproducible alternative: first solve the full CS-constrained parameter-estimation problems using the interior-point nonlinear solver IPOPT, then use the resulting candidate solution as the linearisation point for the outer optimisation that certifies a valid lower bound on the asymptotic key rate. Simulations for both coarse-grained model-independent correlations and fine-grained truncated-Gaussian models show consistently tighter key-rate bounds than canonical reference points, and in some cases allow certifying optimality when both optimisation stages coincide.
title Tighter Asymptotic Key Rates for Intensity-Correlated Decoy-State QKD via Nonlinear Programming
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.04966