In physics, systems having three parts are typically much more difficult to analyze than those having just two. Even in classical mechanics, predicting the motion of three interacting celestial bodies remains an insurmountable challenge while the analogous two-body problem has an elementary solution. It is as if just by adding a third party, a fundamental change occurs in the structure of the problem that renders it unsolvable. In this thesis, we demonstrate how such an effect is likewise present in the theory of quantum entanglement. In fact, the complexity differences between two-party and three-party entanglement become quite conspicuous when comparing the difficulty in deciding what state changes are possible for these systems when no additional entanglement is consumed in the transformation process. We examine this entanglement transformation question and its variants in the language of computational complexity theory, a powerful subject that formalizes the concept of problem difficulty. Since deciding feasibility of a specified bipartite transformation is relatively easy, this task belongs to the complexity class P. On the other hand, for tripartite systems, we find the problem to be NP-Hard, meaning that its solution is at least as hard as the solution to some of the most difficult problems humans have encountered. One can then rigorously defend the assertion that a fundamental complexity difference exists between bipartite and tripartite entanglement since unlike the former, the full range of forms realizable by the latter is incalculable (assuming P unequal to NP). However, similar to the three-body celestial problem, when one examines a special subclass of the problem - invertible transformations on systems having at least one qubit subsystem - we prove that the problem can be solved efficiently. As a hybrid of the two questions, we find that the question of tripartite to bipartite transformations can be solved by an efficient randomized algorithm. Our results are obtained by encoding well-studied computational problems such as polynomial identity testing and tensor rank into questions of entanglement transformation. In this way, entanglement theory provides a physical manifestation of some of the most puzzling and abstract classical computation questions.
Characterizing the transformation and classification of multipartite entangled states is a basic problem in quantum information. We study the problem under the two most common environments, local operations and classical communications (LOCC), stochastic LOCC and two more general environments, multicopy LOCC (MCLOCC), and multicopy SLOCC (MCSLOCC). We show that two transformable multipartite states under LOCC or SLOCC are also transformable under MCLOCC and MCSLOCC. What is more, these two environments are equivalent in the sense that two transformable states under MCLOCC are also transformable under MCSLOCC, and vice versa. Based on these environments we classify the multipartite pure states into a few inequivalent sets and orbits, between which we build the partial order to decide their transformation. In particular, we investigate the structure of SLOCC-equivalent states in terms of tensor rank, which is known as the generalized Schmidt rank. Given the tensor rank, we show that Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states can be used to generate all states with a smaller or equivalent tensor rank under SLOCC, and all reduced separable states with a cardinality smaller than or equivalent to the tensor rank under LOCC. Using these concepts, we extended the concept of the ``maximally entangled state'' in the multipartite system.
The tensor rank (also known as generalized Schmidt rank) of multipartite pure states plays an important role in the study of entanglement classifications and transformations. We employ powerful tools from the theory of homogeneous polynomials to investigate the tensor rank of symmetric states such as the tripartite state |W3>=1/√3(|100> + |010> + |001>) and its N-partite generalization |W(N)>. Previous tensor rank estimates are dramatically improved and we show that (i) three copies of |W3> have a rank of either 15 or 16, (ii) two copies of |W(N)> have a rank of 3N - 2, and (iii) n copies of |W(N)> have a rank of O(N). A remarkable consequence of these results is that certain multipartite transformations, impossible even probabilistically, can become possible when performed in multiple-copy bunches or when assisted by some catalyzing state. This effect is impossible for bipartite pure states.
For a tripartite pure state of three qubits, it is well known that there are two inequivalent classes of genuine tripartite entanglement, namely the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) class and the W class. Any two states within the same class can be transformed into each other with stochastic local operations and classical communication with a nonzero probability. The optimal conversion probability, however, is only known for special cases. Here, lower and upper bounds are derived for the optimal probability of transformation from a GHZ state to other states of the GHZ class. A key idea in the derivation of the upper bounds is to consider the action of the local operations and classical communications (LOCC) protocol on a different input state, namely $1/\sqrt{2}[|000\ensuremath{\rangle}\ensuremath{-}|111\ensuremath{\rangle}]$, and to demand that the probability of an outcome remains bounded by 1. We also find an upper bound for more general cases by using the constraints of the so-called interference term and 3-tangle. Moreover, some of the results are generalized to the case in which each party holds a higher dimensional system. In particular, the GHZ state generalized to three qutrits; that is, $|{\mathrm{GHZ}}_{3}\ensuremath{\rangle}=1/\sqrt{3}[|000\ensuremath{\rangle}+|111\ensuremath{\rangle}+|222\ensuremath{\rangle}]$ shared among three parties can be transformed to any tripartite three-qubit pure state with probability 1 via LOCC. Some of our results can also be generalized to the case of a multipartite state shared by more than three parties.
Hoping to simplify the classification of pure entangled states of multi $(m)\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}$ quantum systems, we study exactly and asymptotically (in
n) reversible transformations among
nth tensor powers of such states (i.e.,
n copies of the state shared among the same
m parties) under local quantum operations and classical communication (LOCC). For exact transformations, we show that two states whose marginal one-party entropies agree are either locally unitarily equivalent or else LOCC incomparable. In particular we show that two tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states are LOCC incomparable to three bipartite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) states symmetrically shared among the three parties. Asymptotic transformations yield a simpler classification than exact transformations; for example, they allow all pure bipartite states to be characterized by a single parameter---their partial entropy---which may be interpreted as the number of EPR pairs asymptotically interconvertible to the state in question by LOCC transformations. We show that $m\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}$ pure states having an $m\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{w}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{y}$ Schmidt decomposition are similarly parametrizable, with the partial entropy across any nontrivial partition representing the number of standard quantum superposition or ``cat'' states $|{0}^{\ensuremath{\bigotimes}m}〉+|{1}^{\ensuremath{\bigotimes}m}〉$ asymptotically interconvertible to the state in question. For general $m\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}$ states, partial entropies across different partitions need not be equal, and since partial entropies are conserved by asymptotically reversible LOCC operations, a multicomponent entanglement measure is needed, with each scalar component representing a different kind of entanglement, not asymptotically interconvertible to the other kinds. In particular we show that the
m=4 cat state is not isentropic to, and therefore not asymptotically interconvertible to, any combination of bipartite and tripartite states shared among the four parties. Thus, although the
m=4 cat state can be prepared from bipartite EPR states, the preparation process is necessarily irreversible, and remains so even asymptotically. For each number of parties
m we define a minimal reversible entanglement generating set (MREGS) as a set of states of minimal cardinality sufficient to generate all $m\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{p}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}$ pure states by asymptotically reversible LOCC transformations. Partial entropy arguments provide lower bounds on the size of the MREGS, but for
m>2 we know no upper bounds. We briefly consider several generalizations of LOCC transformations, including transformations with some probability of failure, transformations with the catalytic assistance of states other than the states we are trying to transform, and asymptotic LOCC transformations supplemented by a negligible
[o(n)] amount of quantum communication.
Quantum Entanglement is one of the key manifestations of quantum mechanics that separate the quantum realm from the classical one. Characterization of entanglement as a physical resource for quantum technology became of uppermost importance. While the entanglement of bipartite systems is already well understood, the ultimate goal to cope with the properties of entanglement of multipartite systems is still far from being realized. This paper covers characterization of multipartite entanglement using algebraic-geometric tools. First, we establish an algorithm to classify multipartite entanglement by [Formula: see text]-secant varieties of the Segre variety and [Formula: see text]-multilinear ranks that are invariant under Stochastic Local Operations with Classical Communication (SLOCC). We present a fine-structure classification of multiqubit and tripartite entanglement based on this algorithm. Another fundamental problem in quantum information theory is entanglement transformation that is quite challenging regarding to multipartite systems. It is captivating that the proposed entanglement classification by algebraic geometry can be considered as a reference to study SLOCC and asymptotic SLOCC interconversions among different resources based on tensor rank and border rank, respectively. In this regard, we also introduce a new class of tensors that we call persistent tensors and construct a lower bound for their tensor rank. We further cover SLOCC convertibility of multipartite systems considering several families of persistent tensors.