Combining moment matrices, symmetric extension, and Lovász theta: $\Phi_{\text{E8}}$ is entangled

Jȩdrzej Stempin, Gerard Anglès Munné, Santiago Llorens, Felix Huber (May 14 2026).

Abstract: We solve an open problem in entanglement theory posed by Yu et al., \it Nature Communications 12, 1012 (2021). The problem is to show, via an entanglement witness, that the $14$-qubit state $\Phi_{\text{E8}}$ is entangled. Inspired by a method from quantum codes, we combine symmetric extension with moment matrices to prove that $\Phi_{\text{E8}}$ is entangled. The proof has the form of a rational infeasibility certificate for a semidefinite program, yielding an explicit entanglement witness. Our approach unifies and extends several earlier methods that involve the Lovász theta number of the Pauli anti-commutativity graph, promising scalability and flexibility in further applications.

Arxiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.13832