"Hyperbits": The information quasiparticles

Abstract

Information theory has its particles, bits and qubits, just as physics has electrons and photons. However, in physics we have a special category of objects with no clear counterparts in information theory: quasiparticles. They are introduced to simplify complex emergent phenomena making otherwise very difficult calculations possible and providing additional insight into the inner workings of the system. We show that we can adopt a similar approach in information theory. We introduce the hyperbits, information quasiparticles which we prove to be a resource equivalent to entanglement and classical communication, and we give examples of how they can be used to simplify calculations and get more insight into communication protocols. © 2012 American Physical Society.