The squashed entanglement of the noiseless quantum Gaussian attenuator and amplifier

We determine the maximum squashed entanglement achievable between sender and receiver of the noiseless quantum Gaussian attenuators and amplifiers and we prove that it is achieved sending half of an infinitely squeezed two-mode vacuum state. The key ingredient of the proof is a lower bound to the squashed entanglement of the quantum Gaussian states obtained applying a two-mode squeezing operation to a quantum thermal Gaussian state tensored with the vacuum state. This is the first lower bound to the squashed entanglement of a quantum Gaussian state and opens the way to determine the squashed entanglement of all quantum Gaussian channels. Moreover, we determine the classical squashed entanglement of the quantum Gaussian states above and show that it is strictly larger than their squashed entanglement. This is the first time that the classical squashed entanglement of a mixed quantum Gaussian state is determined. Published under license by AIP Publishing.