General method for the security analysis in a quantum direct communication protocol

Abstract: We introduce a general approach for the analysis of a quantum direct communication protocol. The method is based on the investigation of the superoperator acting on a joint system of the communicating parties and the eavesdropper. The introduced method is more versatile than the approaches used so far as it permits to incorporate different noise models in a unified way. Moreover, it make use of a well grounded theory of quantum discrimination for the purpose of estimating the eavesdropper's information gain.