About

Eric Chitambar is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, earned in 2010, and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on quantum information systems, quantum resource theories, and the foundational aspects of quantum mechanics. Chitambar has developed courses such as Quantum Information Systems I and Quantum Information Theory at the University of Illinois, and has contributed to the Illinois Quantum Computing Summer School. His scholarly work includes numerous publications in prestigious journals, emphasizing topics like quantum nonlocality, entanglement, quantum channels, and quantum correlations. He is actively involved in advancing the understanding of quantum information processing and its theoretical underpinnings.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Computer network
• Physics
• Quantum mechanics
• Theoretical computer science

Selected publications

• Capacities of Entanglement Distribution From a Central Source

  IEEE Transactions on Information Theory · 2026-04-16

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Distribution of entanglement is an essential task in quantum information processing and the realization of quantum networks. In our work, we theoretically investigate the scenario where a central source prepares an <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">N</i>-partite entangled state and transmits each entangled subsystem to one of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">N</i> receivers through noisy quantum channels. The receivers are then able to perform local operations assisted by unlimited classical communication to distill target entangled states from the noisy channel output. In this operational context, we define the EPR distribution capacity and the GHZ distribution capacity of a quantum channel as the largest rates at which Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) states and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states can be faithfully distributed through the channel, respectively. We establish lower and upper bounds on the EPR distribution capacity by connecting it with the task of assisted entanglement distillation. We also construct an explicit protocol consisting of a combination of a quantum communication code and a classical-post-processing-assisted entanglement generation code, which yields a simple achievable lower bound for generic channels. As applications of these results, we give an exact expression for the EPR distribution capacity over two erasure channels and bounds on the EPR distribution capacity over two generalized amplitude damping channels. We also bound the GHZ distribution capacity, which results in an exact characterization of the GHZ distribution capacity when the most noisy channel is a dephasing channel.

  PublisherDOI

• Asynchronous quantum computation through port-based teleportation

  New Journal of Physics · 2026-02-24

  articleOpen access

  Abstract In standard quantum teleportation, the receiver must wait for a classical message from the sender before subsequently processing the transmitted quantum information. However, in port-based teleportation (PBT), this local processing can begin before the classical message is received, thereby allowing for asynchronous quantum information processing. Motivated by resource-theoretic considerations and practical applications, we propose different communication models that progressively allow for more powerful decoding strategies while still permitting asynchronous distributed quantum computation, a salient feature of standard PBT. Specifically, we consider PBT protocols augmented by free classical processing and/or different forms of quantum pre-processing, and we investigate the maximum achievable teleportation fidelities under such operations. Our analysis focuses specifically on the PBT power of isotropic states, bipartite graph states, and symmetrized EPR states, and we compute tight bounds on the optimal teleportation fidelities for such states. We finally show that, among this hierarchy of communication models consistent with asynchronous quantum information processing, the strongest resource theory is equally as powerful as any one-way teleportation protocol for surpassing the classical teleportation threshold. Thus, a bipartite state can break the one-way classical teleportation threshold if and only if it can be done using the trivial decoding map of discarding subsystems.

  PublisherDOI

• An Operational Framework for Nonclassicality in Quantum Communication Networks

  Quantum · 2026-04-08 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Quantum resources, such as entanglement or quantum communication, offer significant communication advantages in information processing. We develop an operational framework for realizing these communication advantages in resource-constrained quantum networks. The framework computes linear bounds on the input/output probabilities of classical networks with limited communication and globally shared randomness. Since the violation of these classical bounds witnesses nonclassicality, a measurable communication advantage, the framework maximizes the violation of the classical bound using variational quantum optimization methods tailored to the communication network and quantum resources. This operational framework for nonclassicality can be scaled on quantum computers or deployed in the field to optimize noisy quantum networks for communication advantages. Applying this framework, we investigate the nonclassicality of communication networks that are assisted by quantum resources. We find that entanglement between communication-constrained parties is sufficient for nonclassicality to be found, whereas in networks with multiple senders, quantum communication with no entanglement-assistance is sufficient for nonclassicality to be found. As a result, entanglement is necessary for nonclassicality when a single sender broadcasts to multiple receivers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Quantum channel masking

  Physical review. A/Physical review, A · 2026-03-18

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Quantum masking is a special type of secret sharing in which some information gets reversibly distributed into a multipartite system, leaving the original information inaccessible to each subsystem. This paper proposes a dynamical extension of quantum masking to the level of quantum channels. In channel masking, the identity of a channel becomes locally hidden but still globally accessible after its output is sent through a bipartite broadcasting channel. We first characterize all families of d-dimensional unitaries that can be isometrically masked, a condition that holds even in the presence of depolarizing noise. For the case of qubits, we identify which families of Pauli channels can be masked, and we prove that a qubit channel can be masked against the identity if and only if it is unital and has a pure-state fixed point. Masking against the identity describes a scenario in which channel noise becomes completely delocalized through a broadcast map and undetectable through subsystem dynamics alone.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multiplication triples from entangled quantum resources

  ArXiv.org · 2025-05-15

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  An efficient paradigm for multi-party computation (MPC) are protocols structured around access to shared pre-processed computational resources. In this model, certain forms of correlated randomness are distributed to the participants prior to their computation. The shared randomness is then consumed in a computation phase that involves public communication with efficient round complexity, and the computation is secure in this second phase provided the initial correlations were distributed securely. Usually the latter requires some strong setup assumptions, such as a trusted dealer and private channels. We present a novel approach for generating these correlations from entangled quantum graph states and yield information-theoretic privacy guarantees that hold against a malicious adversary, with limited assumptions. Our primary contribution is a tripartite resource state and measurement-based protocol for extracting a binary multiplication triple, a special form of shared randomness that enables the private multiplication of a bit conjunction. Here, we employ a third party as a Referee and demand only an honest pair among the three parties. The role of this Referee is weaker than that of a Dealer, as the Referee learns nothing about the underlying shared randomness that is disseminated. We prove perfect privacy for our protocol, assuming access to an ideal copy of the resource state, an assumption that is based on the existence of graph state verification protocols. Finally, we demonstrate its application as a primitive for more complex Boolean functionalities such as 1-out-of-2 oblivious transfer (OT) and MPC for an arbitrary $N$-party Boolean function, assuming access to the proper broadcasting channel.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• On the distinguishability of geometrically uniform quantum states

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2025-01-21

  preprintOpen access

  A geometrically uniform (GU) ensemble is a uniformly weighted quantum state ensemble generated from a fixed state by a unitary representation of a finite group $G$. In this work we analyze the problem of discriminating GU ensembles from various angles. Assuming that the representation of $G$ is irreducible, we first show that a particular optimal measurement can be understood as the limit of weighted `pretty good measurements' (PGM). This naturally provides examples of state discrimination for which the unweighted PGM is provably sub-optimal. We extend this analysis to certain reducible representations, and use Schur-Weyl duality to discuss two particular examples of GU ensembles in terms of Werner-type and permutation-invariant generator states. For the case of pure-state GU ensembles we give a streamlined proof of optimality of the PGM first proved in [Eldar et al., 2004]. We use this result to give simplified proofs of the optimality of the PGM, along with expressions for the corresponding success probabilities, for two tasks: the hidden subgroup problem over semidirect product groups (first proved in [Bacon et al., 2005]), and port-based teleportation (first proved in [Mozrzymas et al., 2019] and [Leditzky, 2022]). Finally, we consider the $n$-copy setting and adapt a result of [Montanaro, 2007] to derive a compact and easily evaluated lower bound on the success probability of the PGM for this task. This result can be applied to the hidden subgroup problem to obtain a new proof for an upper bound on the sample complexity by [Hayashi et al., 2006].

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• InterQnet: A Heterogeneous Full-Stack Approach to Co-designing Scalable Quantum Networks

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2025-09-23

  preprintOpen access

  Quantum communications have progressed significantly, moving from a theoretical concept to small-scale experiments to recent metropolitan-scale demonstrations. As the technology matures, it is expected to revolutionize quantum computing in much the same way that classical networks revolutionized classical computing. Quantum communications will also enable breakthroughs in quantum sensing, metrology, and other areas. However, scalability has emerged as a major challenge, particularly in terms of the number and heterogeneity of nodes, the distances between nodes, the diversity of applications, and the scale of user demand. This paper describes InterQnet, a multidisciplinary project that advances scalable quantum communications through a comprehensive approach that improves devices, error handling, and network architecture. InterQnet has a two-pronged strategy to address scalability challenges: InterQnet-Achieve focuses on practical realizations of heterogeneous quantum networks by building and then integrating first-generation quantum repeaters with error mitigation schemes and centralized automated network control systems. The resulting system will enable quantum communications between two heterogeneous quantum platforms through a third type of platform operating as a repeater node. InterQnet-Scale focuses on a systems study of architectural choices for scalable quantum networks by developing forward-looking models of quantum network devices, advanced error correction schemes, and entanglement protocols. Here we report our current progress toward achieving our scalability goals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Structure theorem for quantum replacer codes

  Journal of Mathematical Physics · 2025-12-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Quantum replacer codes are codes that can be protected from errors induced by a given set of quantum replacer channels, an important class of quantum channels that includes the erasures of subsets of qubits that arise in quantum error correction. We prove a structure theorem for such codes that synthesizes a variety of special cases with earlier theoretical work in quantum error correction. We present several examples and applications of the theorem, including a mix of new observations and results together with some subclasses of codes revisited from this new perspective.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Capacities of Entanglement Distribution from a Central Source

  2025-06-22 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Distribution of entanglement is an essential task in quantum information processing and the realization of quantum networks. In our work, we theoretically investigate the scenario where a central source prepares an N-partite entangled state and transmits each entangled subsystem to one of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$N$</tex> receivers through noisy quantum channels. The receivers are then able to perform local operations assisted by unlimited classical communication to distill target entangled states from the noisy channel output. In this operational context, we define the EPR distribution capacity and the GHZ distribution capacity of a quantum channel as the largest rates at which Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) states and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states can be faithfully distributed through the channel, respectively. We establish lower and upper bounds on the EPR distribution capacity by connecting it with the task of assisted entanglement distillation. We also construct an explicit protocol consisting of a combination of a quantum communication code and a classical-post-processing-assisted entanglement generation code, which yields a simple achievable lower bound for generic channels. As applications of these results, we give an exact expression for the EPR distribution capacity over two erasure channels and bounds on the EPR distribution capacity over two generalized amplitude damping channels. We also bound the GHZ distribution capacity, which results in an exact characterization of the GHZ distribution capacity when the most noisy channel is a dephasing channel.

  PublisherDOI

• No-Go Theorems for Universal Entanglement Purification

  Physical Review Letters · 2025-05-13 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  An entanglement purification protocol (EPP) aims to transform multiple noisy entangled states into a single entangled state with higher fidelity. In this work we consider input-independent EPPs that always yield an output fidelity no worse than each of the original noisy states, a property we call universality. We prove there is no n-to-1 EPP implementable by local operations and classical communication that is universal for all two-qubit entangled states, whereas such an EPP is possible using more general positive partial transpose-preserving (PPT) operations. We also show that universality is impossible by any bilocal Clifford EPP even when restricted to states with fidelities above an arbitrarily high threshold.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: A Physical Understanding of Secrecy

  NSF · $500k · 2014–2019

• CAREER: A Physical Understanding of Secrecy

  NSF · $62k · 2018–2020

• Pushing the Boundaries of Classical and Quantum Information Processing Toward Enhanced Security and Energy-Efficient Reliability

  NSF · $600k · 2021–2025

• Quantum Resource Theories: General Structures and Fundamental Applications

  NSF · $53k · 2018–2019

• Quantum Resource Theories: General Structures and Fundamental Applications

  NSF · $216k · 2018–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Min-Hsiu Hsieh

  26 shared

• Andrew Miller

  University of Wyoming

  16 shared

• M. Junge

  University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

  16 shared

• N. Minh

  VinUniversity

  16 shared

• Mohammed El-Kebir

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  16 shared

• Idoia Ochoa

  Universidad de Navarra

  16 shared

• Hung V. Tran

  16 shared

• Nengbin He

  Colorado School of Mines

  16 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Computer Science

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  2007

• M.S., Computer Science

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  2002

• B.S., Computer Science

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  2000

Awards & honors

• Celebration of Excellence 2021
• Celebration of Excellence 2022
• Celebration of Excellence 2023
• Celebration of Excellence 2024
• Celebration of Excellence 2025