FIND Seminar

Abstract:

Network Utility Maximization (NUM) is a powerful mathematical framework that can be used to design and analyse classical communication protocols. NUM has enabled the development of distributed algorithms for solving the resource allocation problem, while at the same time providing certain guarantees, e.g., that of fair treatment, to the users of a network. In this talk, I will discuss our work on extending the notion of NUM to quantum networks, and introduce three quantum utility functions – each incorporating a different entanglement measure. The aim of the study is both to gain an understanding of some of the ways in which quantum users may perceive utility, as well as to explore structured and theoretically-motivated methods of simultaneously servicing multiple users in distributed quantum systems. Using our quantum NUM constructions, we develop an optimization framework for networks that use the single-photon scheme for entanglement generation, which enables us to solve the resource allocation problem while exploring rate-fidelity tradeoffs within the network topologies that we consider. We find that our utility functions result in contrasting behaviors which provide some ideas regarding the suitability of quantum network utility definitions to different quantum applications.