On quantum advantage in dense coding

The quantum advantage of dense coding is studied, considering general encoding quantum operations. Particular attention is devoted to the case of many senders, and it is shown that restrictions on the possible operations on the senders’ side may make some quantum state useless for dense-coding. It is shown, e.g., that some states are useful for dense coding if the senders can communicate classically (but not quantumly), yet they cannot be used for dense coding, if classical communication is not allowed. These no-go results are actually independent of the particular quantification of the quantum advantage, being valid for any reasonable choice. It is further shown that the quantum advantage of dense coding satisfies a monogamy relation with the so-called entanglement of purification.