Optimal Temporal Hiding in Correlated Quantum Reference-Frame Processes

Abstract

A finite group-valued temporal reference frame defines a correlated random-unitary process rather than a list of independent channels. We identify a regime in which its complete trajectory law is an exact operational coordinate. If the carrier contains every irreducible representation of the finite group $G$, one ancilla-assisted input resolves all group elements, and for arbitrary laws $μ,ν$ on $G^n$ the strategy half-distance equals $d_{\mathrm{TV}}(μ,ν)$. Optimal output-side causal post-processing likewise reduces to classical convolution on $G^n$. This converts temporal hiding into a $q$-ary coding problem. Uniform coset laws of an $[n,k]_q$ code are identical on every set of fewer than $d(C^\perp)$ slots and perfectly distinguishable globally. For $M$ sectors with leakage at most $η$ from $t$ selected slots and global decoding error $ε$, we obtain $(1-ε)\log M \leq (n-t)\log q+η+h_2(ε)$. For nested codes $C\subset D$, the payload $R=\dim D-\dim C$, invisible depth $t=d_{\mathrm{rel}}(C^\perp,D^\perp)-1$, and sector distance $d_{\mathrm{rel}}(D,C)$ obey $R+t+d_{\mathrm{rel}}(D,C)-1\leq n$ and $R+t+2e+f\leq n$, where $e$ and $f$ are adversarial errors and known erasures. Nested generalized Reed-Solomon codes attain the bounds in their existence range. We also give the exact projection-rank leakage profile and show that hiding arbitrary coherent superpositions from $t$ slots is precisely quantum erasure correction, yielding $\log_q K+2t\leq n$. The results separate classical trajectory privacy from coherent temporal privacy and quantify the robust payload hidden from reduced process tomography.