Hierarchical quantum communication

A general approach to study the hierarchical quantum information splitting (HQIS) is proposed and the same is used to systematically investigate the possibility of realizing HQIS using different classes of 4-qubit entangled states that are not connected by stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC). Explicit examples of HQIS using 4-qubit cluster state and 4-qubit vertical bar Omega > state are provided. Further, the proposed HQIS scheme is generalized to introduce two new aspects of hierarchical quantum communication. To be precise, schemes of probabilistic hierarchical quantum information splitting and hierarchical quantum secret sharing are obtained by modifying the proposed HQIS scheme. A number of practical situations where hierarchical quantum communication would be of use, are also presented. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.