An Investigation of the Potential of Quantum Game Theory to control Routing in Quantum Networks*

With increasing progress in quantum information science, the need for a quantum network allowing  communication between quantum systems is obvious. In a functional quantum network, users need to be able to reliably send information to each other without loss of information. When quantum information is sent at the same time on the same network channel,  there is the possibility of interference, thus resulting in loss of information. In classical networks, game theory has successfully been applied to mitigate routing congestion due to its ability to find optimal strategies to increase successful outcomes in game play. We will discuss how quantum game theory, the fusion of game theory with quantum mechanics, can minimize congestion and optimize sending information inside a quantum network. More specifically, we present results showing  how  the superposition and entanglement aspects of quantum mechanics can be used to increase the efficiency of routing inside a quantum network in realistic scenarios.