Privacy in continuous-variable distributed quantum sensing

Abstract:Can a distributed network of quantum sensors estimate a global parameter while protecting every locally encoded value? We answer this question affirmatively by introducing and analysing a protocol for distributed quantum sensing in the continuous-variable regime. We consider a multipartite network in which an unknown local phase is imprinted at each node on a shared entangled Gaussian state. We show that the average phase can be estimated with high precision, exhibiting Heisenberg scaling in the total photon number, while individual phases are inaccessible. We further prove a no-go theorem showing that, for three or more parties, no finite-energy Gaussian probe can provide complete privacy of the average phase, meaning that all phase combinations orthogonal to the average remain entirely hidden. This identifies the two-party case as an exceptional Gaussian setting that can achieve complete privacy. We further investigate the impact of displacements and optical losses, revealing trade-offs between estimation accuracy and privacy. Finally, we benchmark the protocol against other continuous-variable resource states.

25 pages, 8 figures. Published version

arXiv:2509.12338 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2509.12338v2 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2509.12338 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

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