Exact Tradeoff Between Quantum Error Correction and Quantum Darwinism: An Information-Theoretic No-Go Theorem

Abstract:Quantum error correction (QEC) and Quantum Darwinism describe opposing consequences of system-environment interactions: QEC seeks to preserve logical quantum information, whereas Quantum Darwinism explains the emergence of objective classical information through its proliferation into the environment. Despite their common physical origin, no direct quantitative connection between these paradigms has previously been established. We introduce an exactly solvable block-environment model based on the logical GHZ block of the Shor [[9,1,3]] quantum error-correcting code, collectively coupled to N environment qubits. The logical fidelity, Holevo information, and Darwinistic redundancy are obtained systematically for arbitrary environment size and imperfect recovery efficiency. Eliminating the common decoherence parameter yields an exact tradeoff relating Darwinistic redundancy directly to the post-recovery logical fidelity, demonstrating that the emergence of redundant classical records occurs at the expense of logical quantum information. We further prove a model-independent no-go theorem showing that the logical fidelity exceeds a critical threshold precludes the emergence of Darwinistic redundancy, irrespective of the microscopic Hamiltonian or environment structure. The solvable model saturates this general bound, establishing the first quantitative information-theoretic connection between logical quantum information protection and the emergence of redundant classical records.

arXiv:2608.03944 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2608.03944v1 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.03944 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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