  We present a formula that determines the optimal number of qubits per message
that allows asymptotically faithful compression of the quantum information
carried by an ensemble of mixed states. The set of mixed states determines a
decomposition of the Hilbert space into the redundant part and the irreducible
part. After removing the redundancy, the optimal compression rate is shown to
be given by the von Neumann entropy of the reduced ensemble.

Quantum Physics