Maximal vectors in Hilbert space and quantum entanglement

Fedor Herbut

It is pointed out that every mixed state statistical operator is, up to a normalization constant, a super state vector in the Hilbert space of linear Hilbert-Schmidt operators acting in the state space of the quantum system. Hence, the well understood Schmidt canonical expansion of ordinary state vectors can be carried over to mixed states. In particular, it can be utilized for evaluating all the twins, i. e., the opposite-subsystem observables the measurement of one of which is, on account of entanglement, ipso facto also a measurement of the other. This is illustrated in full detail in the case of the Horodecki two spin-one-half-particle states with maximally disordered subsystems.

Alba Cervera-Lierta

Mátyás Koniorczyk, Vladimír Bužek

Four basis vectors of the Hilbert space of two qubits have the property that if three of them are product states, then the fourth one has to be a product state as well. We address the following situation: Consider a set of orthogonal vectors, each exhibiting a certain degree of entanglement. What is the bound on entanglement of the rest of the basis vectors to form a complete orthonormal basis? Specifically, we present an orthonormal basis, the $\ensuremath{\Xi}$ basis in the Hilbert space of two qubits, with one product state and three equally entangled states. The maximum of the so available entanglement is quantified. A close-to-optimal protocol is presented for entanglement purification via entanglement swapping of two-qubit states. It is based on a suitably chosen nonmaximally entangled basis and carried out in a single step without any ancillas. A similar application of the $\ensuremath{\Xi}$ basis is examined. In this latter case, all the involved entangled states have different and nonorthogonal Schmidt decompositions and, except for some possibly resulting states, none of them are maximally entangled. Entanglement of single pair purification is not conserved on average in this case.

F.J. Duarte, T S Taylor

Vyacheslav I. Yukalov, Didier Sornette

The quantum decision theory introduced recently is formulated as a quantum theory of measurement. It describes prospect states represented by complex vectors of a Hilbert space over a prospect lattice. The prospect operators, acting in this space, form an involutive bijective algebra. A measure is defined for quantifying the entanglement produced by the action of prospect operators. This measure characterizes the level of complexity of prospects involved in decision making. An explicit expression is found for the maximal entanglement produced by the operators of multimode prospects.

W. A. Majewski, Joint work with M. Ohya T. Matsuoka