Four-partite network decomposition conjecture

Let Σ\Sigma be a network with four boundary vertices A1,,A4A_1,\ldots,A_4, and let I(Ai:Aj)I(A_i:A_j) denote the mutual information between AiA_i and AjA_j on Σ\Sigma. Let I3=I3(A1:A2:A3)I_3=I_3(A_1:A_2:A_3) be the tripartite information calculated on Σ\Sigma. Four-partite network decomposition conjecture. An arbitrary network Σ\Sigma with four boundary vertices A1,,A4A_1,\ldots,A_4 decomposes into six pairwise subnetworks Σij\Sigma_{ij}, 1i<j41\leq i<j\leq4, together with a remainder subnetwork Σr\Sigma_r, such that each Σij\Sigma_{ij} connects only AiA_i and AjA_j and satisfies

SΣij(Ai)=SΣij(Aj)=12I(Ai:Aj),SΣij(Ak)=0(ki,j).S_{\Sigma_{ij}}(A_i)=S_{\Sigma_{ij}}(A_j)=\frac{1}{2}I(A_i:A_j),\qquad S_{\Sigma_{ij}}(A_k)=0\quad(k\neq i,j).

Moreover, Σr\Sigma_r is a four-partite perfect tensor network with the same tripartite information as Σ\Sigma; all pairwise mutual informations vanish and

SΣr(Ai)=12SΣr(AiAj)=I32.S_{\Sigma_r}(A_i)=\frac{1}{2}S_{\Sigma_r}(A_iA_j)=\frac{-I_3}{2}.

For every subsystem s{Ai}s\subset\{A_i\}, the subsystem entropies of the seven subnetworks add up to those of Σ\Sigma:

i<jSΣij(s)+SΣr(s)=SΣ(s).\sum_{i<j}S_{\Sigma_{ij}}(s)+S_{\Sigma_r}(s)=S_\Sigma(s).

The conjecture has numerical support from direct computations for some network examples, but the theorem cited in the source is not sufficient to prove it.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Shawn X. Cui, Patrick Hayden, Temple He, Matthew Headrick, Bogdan Stoica and Michael Walter, “Bit Threads and Holographic Monogamy”, arXiv:1808.05234 (2019).

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