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arXiv:0801.4322 · Physical Review A

Pure-state transformations and catalysis under operations that completely preserve positivity of partial transpose

William Matthews, Andreas Winter

Published Jul 10, 2008• 22 citations
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Abstract

Motivated by the desire to better understand the class of quantum operations on bipartite systems that completely preserve positivity of partial transpose (PPT operations) and its relation to the class LOCC (local operations and classical communication), we present some results on deterministic bipartite pure-state transformations by PPT operations. Restricting our attention to the case in which we start with a rank $\mathit{K}$ maximally entangled state, we give a necessary condition for transforming it into a given pure state, which we show is also sufficient when $\mathit{K}$ is 2 and the final state has Schmidt rank 3. We show that it is sufficient for all $\mathit{K}$ and all final states provided a conjecture about a certain family of semidefinite programs is true. We also demonstrate that the phenomenon of catalysis can occur under PPT operations and that, unlike LOCC catalysis, a maximally entangled state can be a catalyst. Finally, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the possibility of transforming a rank $\mathit{K}$ maximally entangled state to an arbitrary pure state by PPT operations assisted by some maximally entangled catalyst.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.78.012317

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Motivated by the desire to better understand the class of quantum operations on bipartite systems that completely preserve positivity of partial transpose (PPT operations) and its relation to the class LOCC (local operations and classical communication), we present some results on deterministic bipartite pure-state transformations by PPT operations. Restricting our attention to the case in which we start with a rank K\mathit{K}K maximally entangled state, we give a necessary condition for transforming it into a given pure state, which we show is also sufficient when K\mathit{K}K is 2 and the final state has Schmidt rank 3. We show that it is sufficient for all K\mathit{K}K and all final states provided a conjecture about a certain family of semidefinite programs is true. We also demonstrate that the phenomenon of catalysis can occur under PPT operations and that, unlike LOCC catalysis, a maximally entangled state can be a catalyst. Finally, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the possibility of transforming a rank K\mathit{K}K maximally entangled state to an arbitrary pure state by PPT operations assisted by some maximally entangled catalyst.
In order to better understand the class of quantum operations that preserve the positivity of partial transpose (PPT operations) and its relation to the widely used class of local operations and classical communication (LOCC), we study the problem of distinguishing orthogonal maximally entangled states (MES) by PPT operations. Firstly, we outline a rather simple proof to show that the number of d⊗dd\otimes dd⊗d PPT distinguishable MES is at most ddd, which slightly generalizes existing results on this problem. Secondly, we construct 4 MES in 4⊗44\otimes 44⊗4 state space that cannot be distinguished by PPT operations. Before our work, it was unknown whether there exists ddd MES in d⊗dd\otimes dd⊗d state space that are locally indistinguishable. This example leads us to a novel phenomenon of Entanglement Catalysis Discrimination. Moreover, we find there exists a set of locally indistinguishable states KKK such that K⊗mK^{\otimes m}K⊗m is locally distinguishable for some finite mmm. As an interesting application, we exhibit a quantum channel with one sender and two receivers, whose one-shot zero-error local capacity is not optimal, but multi-use would enhance the capacity to achieve the full output dimension even without entangled input. Finally, we consider the entanglement cost of distinguishing three Bell states and a 2⊗22\otimes 22⊗2 entangled basis. In the former case a bipartite pure entangled state with the largest Schmidt coefficient at most 2/3 is necessary and sufficient, while in the latter case an additional Bell state, or one ebit, should be supplied.
Quantum catalysts can overcome otherwise impossible quantum state transformations without being consumed, and allowing them to become correlated with the output makes this assistance substantially more powerful. This raises a fundamental question for entanglement theory: which limitations on state manipulation remain when such correlated catalysts are freely available? We answer this question in the positive-partial-transpose (PPT) resource theory, which allows a substantially broader class of operations than local operations and classical communication (LOCC). We identify general conditions under which regularized relative-entropy measures become strongly superadditive, and use them to construct monotones that constrain correlated catalytic PPT transformations without any knowledge of the catalyst. In particular, we prove that the regularized PPT relative entropy is fully additive and strongly superadditive, resolving an open problem in entanglement theory. Most importantly, these constraints show that even arbitrary correlated catalysts cannot restore asymptotic reversibility: for an explicit state, the optimal entanglement distillation rate remains strictly smaller than the entanglement cost. Thus, substantial catalytic assistance does not remove some of the fundamental limitations of mixed-state entanglement manipulation.
We consider the transformation of multipartite states in the single-copy setting under positive-partial-transpose-preserving operations (PPT operations) and obtain both qualitative and quantitative results. First, for some pure-state transformations that are impossible under local operations and classical communication (LOCC), we demonstrate that they become possible with a surprisingly large success probability under PPT operations. Furthermore, we clarify the convertibility of arbitrary multipartite pure states under PPT operations and show that a drastic simplification in the classification of pure-state entanglement occurs when the set of operations is switched from LOCC to PPT operations. Indeed, the infinitely many types of LOCC-incomparable entanglement are reduced to only one type under the action of PPT operations. This is a clear manifestation of the increased power afforded by the use of PPT-bound entanglement. In addition, we further enlarge the set of operations to clarify the effect of another type of bound entanglement, multipartite unlockable bound entanglement, and show that a further simplification occurs. As compared to pure states a more complicated situation emerges in mixed-state settings. While single-copy distillation becomes possible under PPT operations for some mixed states it remains impossible for other mixed states.
We study the problem of transforming a set of pure bipartite states into another using deterministic LOCC (local operations and classical communication). Necessary conditions for the existence of such a transformation are obtained using LOCC constraints on state transformation, entanglement, and distinguishability. These conditions are shown to be independent but not sufficient. We discuss their satisfiability and classify all possible input-output pairs of sets accordingly. We also prove that strict inclusions hold between LOCC, separable, and positive partial transpose operations for set transformation problems.
We demonstrate the irreversibility of asymptotic entanglement manipulation under quantum operations that completely preserve the positivity of partial transpose (PPT), resolving a major open problem in quantum information theory. Our key tool is a new efficiently computable additive lower bound for the asymptotic relative entropy of entanglement with respect to PPT states, which can be used to evaluate the entanglement cost under local operations and classical communication (LOCC). We find that for any rank-two mixed state supporting on the 3⊗3 antisymmetric subspace, the amount of distillable entanglement by PPT operations is strictly smaller than one entanglement bit (ebit) while its entanglement cost under PPT operations is exactly one ebit. As a by-product, we find that for this class of states, both the Rains's bound and its regularization are strictly less than the asymptotic relative entropy of entanglement. So, in general, there is no unique entanglement measure for the manipulation of entanglement by PPT operations. We further show a computable sufficient condition for the irreversibility of entanglement distillation by LOCC (or PPT) operations.
Entanglement catalysis is a phenomenon that usually enhances the conversion probability in the transformation of entangled states by the temporary involvement of another entangled state (so-called catalyst), where after the process is completed the catalyst is returned to the same state. For some pairs of bipartite pure entangled states, catalysis enables a transformation with unit probability of success, in which case the respective Schmidt coefficients of the states are said to satisfy the trumping relation, a mathematical relation which is an extension of the majorization relation. This paper provides all necessary and sufficient conditions for the trumping and two other associated relations. Using these conditions, the least upper bound of conversion probabilities using catalysis is also obtained. Moreover, best conversion ratios achievable with catalysis are found for transformations involving many copies of states.