Tighter asymptotic key rates for intensity-correlated decoy-state quantum key distribution via nonlinear programming
Phys. Rev. A 113, 062441 – Published 16 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/m9sj-srsc
Abstract
Decoy-state QKD with phase-randomized weak coherent pulses is typically analyzed assuming independent, precisely prepared intensities. Real sources, however, can exhibit correlated intensity drift across rounds, potentially leaking intensity information and breaking the standard decoy-state reduction to linear programs. Cauchy-Schwarz (CS) constraints can restore security by coupling -photon yields across intensities, but they introduce nonlinear square-root constraints that are commonly handled via outer linearization around channel-model-based reference points. We propose a reproducible alternative: first solve the full CS-constrained parameter-estimation problems using the interior-point nonlinear solver IPOPT, then use the resulting candidate solution as the linearization point for the outer optimization that certifies a valid lower bound on the asymptotic key rate. Simulations for both coarse-grained model-independent correlations and fine-grained truncated-Gaussian models show consistently tighter key-rate bounds than canonical reference points, and in some cases allow certifying optimality when both optimization stages coincide.