Entropy Bounds via Hypothesis Testing and Its Applications to Two-Way Key Distillation in Quantum Cryptography

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bhavsar, Rutvij, Moon, Junguk, Bae, Joonwoo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866914308385931264
author Bhavsar, Rutvij
Moon, Junguk
Bae, Joonwoo
author_facet Bhavsar, Rutvij
Moon, Junguk
Bae, Joonwoo
contents Quantum key distribution (QKD) achieves information-theoretic security, without relying on computational assumptions, by distributing quantum states. To establish secret bits, two honest parties exploit key distillation protocols over measurement outcomes resulting after the the distribution of quantum states. In this work, we establish a rigorous connection between the key rate achievable by applying two-way key distillation, such as advantage distillation, and quantum asymptotic hypothesis testing, via an integral representation of the relative entropy. This connection improves key rates at small to intermediate blocklengths relative to existing fidelity-based bounds and enables the computation of entropy bounds for intermediate to large blocklengths. Moreover, this connection allows one to close the gap between known sufficient and conjectured necessary conditions for key generation in the asymptotic regime, while the precise finite blocklegth conditions remain open. More broadly, our work shows how advances in quantum multiple hypothesis testing can directly sharpen the security analyses of QKD.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_05870
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Entropy Bounds via Hypothesis Testing and Its Applications to Two-Way Key Distillation in Quantum Cryptography
Bhavsar, Rutvij
Moon, Junguk
Bae, Joonwoo
Quantum Physics
Quantum key distribution (QKD) achieves information-theoretic security, without relying on computational assumptions, by distributing quantum states. To establish secret bits, two honest parties exploit key distillation protocols over measurement outcomes resulting after the the distribution of quantum states. In this work, we establish a rigorous connection between the key rate achievable by applying two-way key distillation, such as advantage distillation, and quantum asymptotic hypothesis testing, via an integral representation of the relative entropy. This connection improves key rates at small to intermediate blocklengths relative to existing fidelity-based bounds and enables the computation of entropy bounds for intermediate to large blocklengths. Moreover, this connection allows one to close the gap between known sufficient and conjectured necessary conditions for key generation in the asymptotic regime, while the precise finite blocklegth conditions remain open. More broadly, our work shows how advances in quantum multiple hypothesis testing can directly sharpen the security analyses of QKD.
title Entropy Bounds via Hypothesis Testing and Its Applications to Two-Way Key Distillation in Quantum Cryptography
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.05870