Unextendible Product Bases,Uncompletable Product Bases and Bound Entanglement

We report new results and generalizations of our work on unextendible product bases (UPB), uncompletable product bases and bound entanglement. We present a new construction for bound entangled states based on product bases which are only completable in a locally extended Hilbert space. We introduce a very useful representation of a product basis, an orthogonality graph. Using this representation we give a complete characterization of unextendible product bases for two qutrits. We present several generalizations of UPBs to arbitrary high dimensions and multipartite systems. We present a sufficient condition for sets of orthogonal product states to be distinguishable by separable superoperators. We prove that bound entangled states cannot help increase the distillable entanglement of a state beyond its regularized entanglement of formation assisted by bound entanglement.     

Testing the nonlocality of entangled states by a new Bell-like inequality

We test a new four-qubit entangled state by the former Bell-like inequalities and find that it violates these inequalities, but not maximally. According to this entangled state, we build a new Bell-like inequality, which is violated by this new state maximally. We also determine the nonlocality of some other four-qubit states by the new inequality. It is found that the new inequality acts as a strong entanglement witness for the new state. This can be used to test new entangled states experimentally.     

All bipartite entangled States display some hidden nonlocality

One of the most significant and well-known properties of entangled states is that they may lead to violations of Bell inequalities and are thus inconsistent with any local-realistic theory. However, there are entangled states that cannot violate any Bell inequality, and in general the precise relationship between entanglement and observable nonlocality is not well understood. We demonstrate that a violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality can be demonstrated in a certain kind of Bell experiment for all entangled states. Our proof of the result consists of two main steps. We first provide a simple characterization of the set of states that do not violate the CHSH inequality even after general local operations and classical communication. Second, we prove that for each entangled state sigma, there exists another state rho not violating the CHSH inequality, such that rhomultiply sign in circlesigma violates the CHSH inequality.     

Bound entanglement and continuous variables

We introduce the definition of generic bound entanglement for the case of continuous variables. We provide some examples of bound entangled states for that case, and discuss their physical sense in the context of quantum optics. We raise the question of whether the entanglement of these states is generic. As a by-product we obtain a new many parameter family of bound entangled states with positive partial transpose. We also point out that the "entanglement witnesses" and positive maps revealing the corresponding bound entanglement can easily be constructed.     

Minimizing the loss of entanglement under dimensional reduction

We investigate the possibility of transforming, under local operations and classical communication, a general bipartite quantum state on a d_A x d_B tensor-product space into a final state in 2 x 2 dimensions, while maintaining as much entanglement as possible. For pure states, we prove that Nielsens theorem provides the optimal protocol, and we present quantitative results on the degree of entanglement before and after the dimensional reduction. For mixed states, we identify a protocol that we argue is optimal for isotropic and Werner states. In the literature, it has been conjectured that some Werner states are bound entangled and in support of this conjecture our protocol gives final states without entanglement for this class of states. For all other entangled Werner states and for all entangled isotropic states some degree of free entanglement is maintained. In this sense, our protocol may be used to discriminate between bound and free entanglement.Received: 21 January 2004, Published online: 2 March 2004PACS: 03.67.Mn Entanglement production, characterization, and manipulation - 42.50.Dv Nonclassical states of the electromagnetic field, including entangled photon states; quantum state engineering and measurements - 03.65.Ud Entanglement and quantum nonlocality (e.g. EPR paradox, Bells inequalities, GHZ states, etc.)     

Degree of Entanglement and Violation of Bell Inequality by Two-Spin-1/2 States

Bell inequality is violated by the quantum mechanical predictions made from an entangled state of the composite system. In this paper we examine this inequality and entanglement measures in the construction of the coherent states for two-qubit pure and mixed states. we find a link to some entanglement measures through some new parameters (amplitudes of coherent states). Conditions for maximal entanglement and separability are then established for both pure and mixed states. Finally, we analyze and compare the violation of Bell inequality for a class of mixed states with the degree of
entanglement by applying the formalism of Horodecki et al.     

Relative Entropy and Squashed Entanglement

We are interested in the properties and relations of entanglement measures. Especially, we focus on the squashed entanglement and relative entropy of entanglement, as well as their analogues and variants. Our first result is a monogamy-like inequality involving the relative entropy of entanglement and its one-way LOCC variant. The proof is accomplished by exploring the properties of relative entropy in the context of hypothesis testing via one-way LOCC operations, and by making use of an argument resembling that by Piani on the faithfulness of regularized relative entropy of entanglement. Following this, we obtain a commensurate and faithful lower bound for squashed entanglement, in the form of one-way LOCC relative entropy of entanglement. This gives a strengthening to the strong subadditivity of von Neumann entropy. Our result improves the trace-distance-type bound derived in Brandão et al. (Commun Math Phys, 306:805–830, 2011), where faithfulness of squashed entanglement was first proved. Applying Pinsker’s inequality, we are able to recover the trace-distance-type bound, even with slightly better constant factor. However, the main improvement is that our new lower bound can be much larger than the old one and it is almost a genuine entanglement measure. We evaluate exactly the relative entropy of entanglement under various restricted measurement classes, for maximally entangled states. Then, by proving asymptotic continuity, we extend the exact evaluation to their regularized versions for all pure states. Finally, we consider comparisons and separations between some important entanglement measures and obtain several new results on these, too.     

Entanglement witnesses and geometry of entanglement of two-qutrit states

We construct entanglement witnesses with regard to the geometric structure of the Hilbert-Schmidt space and investigate the geometry of entanglement. In particular, for a two-parameter family of two-qutrit states that are part of the magic simplex, we calculate the Hilbert-Schmidt measure of entanglement. We present a method to detect bound entanglement which is illustrated for a three-parameter family of states. In this way, we discover new regions of bound entangled states. Furthermore, we outline how to use our method to distinguish entangled from separable states.     

Activating distillation with an infinitesimal amount of bound entanglement

We show that bipartite quantum states of any dimension, which do not have a positive partial transpose (NPPT), become 1-distillable when one adds an infinitesimal amount of bound entanglement. To this end we investigate the activation properties of a new class of symmetric bound entangled states of full rank. It is shown that in this set there exist universal activator states capable of activating the distillation of any NPPT state. The result shows that even a small amount of bound entanglement can be useful for quantum information purposes.     

Experimental unconditional preparation and detection of a continuous bound entangled state of light

Among the possibly most intriguing aspects of quantum entanglement is that it comes in free and bound instances. The existence of bound entangled states certifies an intrinsic irreversibility of entanglement in nature and suggests a connection with thermodynamics. In this Letter, we present a first unconditional, continuous-variable preparation and detection of a bound entangled state of light. We use convex optimization to identify regimes rendering its bound character well certifiable, and continuously produce a distributed bound entangled state with an extraordinary and unprecedented significance of more than 10 standard deviations away from both separability and distillability. Our results show that the approach chosen allows for the efficient and precise preparation of multimode entangled states of light with various applications in quantum information, quantum state engineering, and high precision metrology.     

Are the laws of entanglement theory thermodynamical?

We argue that on its face, entanglement theory satisfies laws equivalent to thermodynamics if the theory can be made reversible by adding certain bound entangled states as a free resource during entanglement manipulation. Subject to plausible conjectures, we prove that this is not the case in general, and discuss the implications of this for the thermodynamics of entanglement.     

Classifying N-qubit entanglement via Bell's inequalities

All the states of N qubits can be classified into N-1 entanglement classes from 2-entangled to N-entangled (fully entangled) states. Each class of entangled states is characterized by an entanglement index that depends on the partition of N. The larger the entanglement index of a state, the more entangled or the less separable is the state in the sense that a larger maximal violation of Bell's inequality is attainable for this class of state.     

Thermal entanglement versus mixture in a spin chain: Generation of maximally entangled mixed states

We study the two-body entanglement and mixture in a three-qubit XXZ spin chain in thermal equilibrium state at temperature T with an external magnetic field B. The effects of the magnetic field, the anisotropy and the temperature on the entanglement and mixture are considered. We show that the ground states in this system are fully characterized and distinguished by both entanglement and mixture. Thermal entanglement versus the mixture of all two-spin states is investigated. All pairwise states provide an upper bound on the entanglement for a fixed mixture, and some part of the boundary reaches the boundary allowed by physics. As a result, maximally entangled mixed states can be generated by controlling magnetic field and temperature. Especially, in the ground state of the whole system, the explicit forms of maximally entangled mixed states are given. The results provide a new way to generate maximally entangled mixed states and control entanglement.     

Witness for Non-Quasi Maximally Entangled States

Maximally entangled states, defined as those states that have the maximal entanglement of formation under some entanglement measure, are the ideal resource for many quantum missions. In this paper, we call a convex roof of maximally entangled pure states a quasi maximally entangled state. First, we present the concept of a witness for non-quasi maximally entangled states, which is an observable that can distinguish some non-quasi maximally entangled states from quasi maximally entangled ones. Then we prove that every non-quasi maximally entangled state can be witnessed by a witness and obtain some necessary and sufficient conditions for an observable to be a witness for non-quasi maximally entangled states. Lastly, we give some classes of Hermitian operators, which can become witnesses. Especially, we compute non-quasi maximally entangled states that can be detected by a specific product operator.     

A Generalized Grothendieck Inequality and Nonlocal Correlations that Require High Entanglement

Suppose that Alice and Bob make local two-outcome measurements on a shared entangled quantum state. We show that, for all positive integers d, there exist correlations that can only be reproduced if the local Hilbert-space dimension is at least d. This establishes that the amount of entanglement required to maximally violate a Bell inequality must depend on the number of measurement settings, not just the number of measurement outcomes. We prove this result by establishing a lower bound on a new generalization of Grothendieck’s constant.     

Separable states are more disordered globally than locally

A remarkable feature of quantum entanglement is that an entangled state of two parties, Alice ( A) and Bob ( B), may be more disordered locally than globally. That is, S(A)>S(A,B), where S(*) is the von Neumann entropy. It is known that satisfaction of this inequality implies that a state is nonseparable. In this paper we prove the stronger result that for separable states the vector of eigenvalues of the density matrix of system AB is majorized by the vector of eigenvalues of the density matrix of system A alone. This gives a strong sense in which a separable state is more disordered globally than locally and a new necessary condition for separability of bipartite states in arbitrary dimensions.     

Secure key from bound entanglement

We characterize the set of shared quantum states which contain a cryptographically private key. This allows us to recast the theory of privacy as a paradigm closely related to that used in entanglement manipulation. It is shown that one can distill an arbitrarily secure key from bound entangled states. There are also states that have less distillable private keys than the entanglement cost of the state. In general, the amount of distillable key is bounded from above by the relative entropy of entanglement. Relationships between distillability and distinguishability are found for a class of states which have Bell states correlated to separable hiding states. We also describe a technique for finding states exhibiting irreversibility in entanglement distillation.     

Faithful Squashed Entanglement

Squashed entanglement is a measure for the entanglement of bipartite quantum states. In this paper we present a lower bound for squashed entanglement in terms of a distance to the set of separable states. This implies that squashed entanglement is faithful, that is, it is strictly positive if and only if the state is entangled.     

Nonadditivity of bipartite distillable entanglement follows from a conjecture on bound entangled Werner states

Assuming the validity of a conjecture given by DiVincenzo et al. [Phys. Rev. A 61, 062312 (2000)] and by Dür et al. [Phys. Rev. A 61, 062313 (2000)], we show that the distillable entanglement for two bipartite states, each of which individually has zero distillable entanglement, can be nonzero. We show that this also implies that the distillable entanglement is not a convex function. Our example consists of the tensor product of a bound entangled state based on an unextendible product basis with an entangled Werner state which lies in the class of conjectured undistillable states.     

Transformation relation between coherence and entanglement for two-qubit states

Entanglement and coherence are two important resources in quantum information theory. A question naturally arises: Is there some connection between them? We prove that the entanglement of formation and the first-order coherence of two-qubit states satisfy an inequality relation. Two-qubit pure state reaches the upper bound of this inequality. A large number of randomly generated states are used to intuitively verify the complementarity between the entanglement of formation and the first-order coherence. We give the maximum accessible coherence of two-qubit states. Our research results will provide a reliable theoretical basis for conversion of the two quantum resources.