Quantum entanglement is a fundamental resource in quantum information theory, yet its general characterization and quantification remain challenging, especially in multipartite systems. In this work we investigate entanglement from a geometric perspective, focusing on the Riemannian structure induced by the Fubini--Study metric on the projective Hilbert space of multi-qubit quantum states. By exploiting the local-unitary invariance of this metric, we derive the entanglement distance (ED), a geometric measure that quantifies entanglement as an obstruction to locally minimizing the sum of squared Fubini--Study distances generated by local operations.
We analyze the properties of ED for pure multi-qubit states and discuss its behavior under local operations and classical communication. In particular, we show that ED reproduces established entanglement measures in well-defined and restricted settings. For pure states of two qubits, ED reduces to an exact monotone function of the concurrence and, independently, to an explicit monotone function of the entropy of entanglement. These results provide a clear geometric interpretation of standard bipartite entanglement measures within the present framework, while highlighting the limitations of such correspondences beyond the two-qubit case.
We introduce a class of generalized geometric measures of entanglement. For pure quantum states of
N elementary subsystems, they are defined as the distances from the sets of
K-separable states
(K=2,…,N). The entire set of generalized geometric measures provides a quantification and hierarchical ordering of the different bipartite and multipartite components of the global geometric entanglement, and allows discrimination among the different contributions. The extended measures are applied to the study of entanglement in different classes of
N-qubit pure states. These classes include
W and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states, and their symmetric superpositions; symmetric multimagnon states; cluster states; and, finally, asymmetric generalized
W-like superposition states. We discuss in detail a general method for the explicit evaluation of the multipartite components of geometric entanglement, and we show that the entire set of geometric measures establishes an ordering among the different types of bipartite and multipartite entanglement. In particular, it determines a consistent hierarchy between GHZ and
W states, clarifying the original result of Wei and Goldbart that
W states possess a larger global entanglement than GHZ states. Furthermore, we show that all multipartite components of geometric entanglement in symmetric states obey a property of self-similarity and scale invariance with the total number of qubits and the number of qubits per party.
The degree to which a pure quantum state is entangled can be characterized by the distance or angle to the nearest unentangled state. This geometric measure of entanglement, already present in a number of settings [A. Shimony, Ann. NY. Acad. Sci. 755, 675 (1995); H. Barnum and N. Linden, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 34, 6787 (2001)], is explored for bipartite and multipartite pure and mixed states. The measure is determined analytically for arbitrary two-qubit mixed states and for generalized Werner and isotropic states, and is also applied to certain multipartite mixed states. In particular, a detailed analysis is given for arbitrary mixtures of three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger, W, and inverted-
W states. Along the way, we point out connections of the geometric measure of entanglement with entanglement witnesses and with the Hartree approximation method.
A method is developed to derive algebraic equations for the geometric measure of entanglement of three-qubit pure states. The equations are derived explicitly and solved in the cases of most interest. These equations allow one to derive analytic expressions of the geometric entanglement measure in a wide range of three-qubit systems, including the general class of W states and states which are symmetric under the permutation of two qubits. The nearest separable states are not necessarily unique, and highly entangled states are surrounded by a one-parametric set of equally distant separable states. A possibility for physical applications of the various three-qubit states to quantum teleportation and superdense coding is suggested from the aspect of entanglement.
The thesis includes the original results of our articles [30, 37, 40, 42, 51, 53, 75]. A method is developed to compute analytically entanglement measures of three-qubit pure states. Owing to it closed-form expressions are presented for the geometric measure of entanglement for three-qubit states that are linear combinations of four orthogonal product states. It turns out that the geometric measure for these states has three different expressions depending on the range of definition in parameter space and the Hilbert space of three-qubits consists of three different entangled regions. The states that lie on joint surfaces separating different entangled regions, designated as shared states, have particularly interesting features and are dual quantum channels for the perfect teleportation and superdense coding [42]. A powerful method is developed to compute analytically multipartite entanglement measures. The method uses the duality concept and creates a bijection between highly entangled quantum states and their nearest separable states. The bijection gives explicitly the geometric entanglement measure of arbitrary generalized W states of n qubits [30, 75]. Additionaly, the behavior of the geometric entanglement measure of many-qubit W states is analyzed and an interpolating formula is derived [51]. Generalized Schmidt decomposition of pure three-qubit states has four positive and one complex coefficients. In contrast to the bipartite case, they are not arbitrary and the largest Schmidt coefficient restricts severely other coefficients. It is derived a non-strict inequality between three-qubit Schmidt coefficients, where the largest coefficient defines the least upper bound for the three nondiagonal coefficients or, equivalently, the three nondiagonal coefficients together define the greatest lower bound for the largest coefficient [53].
We give an explicit expression for the geometric measure of entanglement for three-qubit states that are linear combinations of four orthogonal product states. It turns out that the geometric measure for these states has three different expressions depending on the range of definition in parameter space. Each expression of the measure has its own geometrically meaningful interpretation. Such an interpretation allows oneself to take one step toward a complete understanding for the general properties of the entanglement measure. The states that lie on joint surfaces separating different ranges of definition, designated as shared states, seem to have particularly interesting features. The properties of the shared states are fully discussed.