Conjugate degradability and the quantum capacity of cloning channels

A quantum channel is conjugate degradable if the channel's environment can be simulated up to complex conjugation using the channel's output. For all such channels, the quantum capacity can be evaluated using a single-letter formula. In this article we introduce conjugate degradability and establish a number of its basic properties. We then use it to calculate the quantum capacity of N to N + 1 and 1 to M universal quantum cloning machines as well as the quantum capacity of a channel that arises naturally when data are being transmitted to an accelerating receiver. All the channels considered turn out to have strictly positive quantum capacity, meaning they could be used as part of a communication system to send quantum states reliably. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3449555]