Suppose that several parties jointly possess a pure multipartite state, |ψ⟩. Using local operations on their respective systems and classical communication (i.e. LOCC), it may be possible for the parties to transform deterministically |ψ⟩ into another joint state |ϕ⟩. In the bipartite case, the Nielsen majorization theorem gives the necessary and sufficient conditions for this process of entanglement transformation to be possible. In the multipartite case, such a deterministic local transformation is possible only if both the states are in the same stochastic LOCC (SLOCC) class. Here, we generalize the Nielsen majorization theorem to the multipartite case, and find necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a local separable transformation between two multipartite states in the same SLOCC class. When such a deterministic conversion is not possible, we find an expression for the maximum probability to convert one state to another by local separable operations. In addition, we find necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a separable transformation that converts a multipartite pure state into one of a set of possible final states all in the same SLOCC class. Our results are expressed in terms of (i) the stabilizer group of the state representing the SLOCC orbit and (ii) the associate density matrices (ADMs) of the two multipartite states. The ADMs play a similar role to that of the reduced density matrices when considering local transformations that involve pure bipartite states. We show, in particular, that the requirement that one ADM majorizes another is a necessary condition but is, in general, far from also being sufficient as it happens in the bipartite case. In most of the results the twirling operation with respect to the stabilizer group (of the representative state in the SLOCC orbit) plays an important role that provides a deep link between entanglement theory and the resource theory of reference frames.
Suppose that several parties jointly possess a pure multipartite state, |ψ⟩. Using local operations on their respective systems and classical communication (i.e. LOCC), it may be possible for the parties to transform deterministically |ψ⟩ into another joint state |ϕ⟩. In the bipartite case, the Nielsen majorization theorem gives the necessary and sufficient conditions for this process of entanglement transformation to be possible. In the multipartite case, such a deterministic local transformation is possible only if both the states are in the same stochastic LOCC (SLOCC) class. Here, we generalize the Nielsen majorization theorem to the multipartite case, and find necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a local separable transformation between two multipartite states in the same SLOCC class. When such a deterministic conversion is not possible, we find an expression for the maximum probability to convert one state to another by local separable operations. In addition, we find necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a separable transformation that converts a multipartite pure state into one of a set of possible final states all in the same SLOCC class. Our results are expressed in terms of (i) the stabilizer group of the state representing the SLOCC orbit and (ii) the associate density matrices (ADMs) of the two multipartite states. The ADMs play a similar role to that of the reduced density matrices when considering local transformations that involve pure bipartite states. We show, in particular, that the requirement that one ADM majorizes another is a necessary condition but is, in general, far from also being sufficient as it happens in the bipartite case. In most of the results the twirling operation with respect to the stabilizer group (of the representative state in the SLOCC orbit) plays an important role that provides a deep link between entanglement theory and the resource theory of reference frames.
We study conditions for the deterministic transformation $\ensuremath{\mid}\ensuremath{\psi}⟩\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\mid}\ensuremath{\phi}⟩$ of a bipartite entangled state by a separable operation. If the separable operation is a local operation with classical communication (LOCC), Nielsen's majorization theorem provides necessary and sufficient conditions. For the general case, we derive a necessary condition in terms of products of Schmidt coefficients, which is equivalent to the Nielsen condition when either of the two factor spaces is of dimension 2, but is otherwise weaker. One implication is that no separable operation can reverse a deterministic map produced by another separable operation, if one excludes the case where the Schmidt coefficients of $\ensuremath{\mid}\ensuremath{\psi}⟩$ are the same as those of $\ensuremath{\mid}\ensuremath{\phi}⟩$. The question of sufficient conditions in the general separable case remains open. When the Schmidt coefficients of $\ensuremath{\mid}\ensuremath{\psi}⟩$ are the same as those of $\ensuremath{\mid}\ensuremath{\phi}⟩$, we show that the Kraus operators of the separable transformation restricted to the supports of $\ensuremath{\mid}\ensuremath{\psi}⟩$ on the factor spaces are proportional to unitaries. When that proportionality holds and the factor spaces have equal dimension, we find conditions for the deterministic transformation of a collection of several full Schmidt rank pure states $\ensuremath{\mid}{\ensuremath{\psi}}_{j}⟩$ to pure states $\ensuremath{\mid}{\ensuremath{\phi}}_{j}⟩$.
Understanding multipartite entanglement is a key goal in quantum information. Entanglement in pure states can be characterized by considering transformations under local operations assisted by classical communication (LOCC). However, it has been shown that, for $n\ensuremath{\ge}5$ parties, multipartite pure states are generically isolated, i.e., they can be neither reached nor transformed under LOCC. Nonetheless, in any real laboratory, one never deterministically transforms a pure initial state exactly to a pure target state. Instead, one transforms a mixed state near the initial state to an ensemble that is on average close to the target state. This motivates studying approximate LOCC transformations. After reviewing in detail the known results in the bipartite case, we present the gaps that remain open in the multipartite case. While the analysis of the multipartite setting is much more technically involved due to the existence of different stochastic LOCC (SLOCC) classes, certain features simplify in the approximate setting. In particular, we show that it is sufficient to consider pure initial states, that it is sufficient to consider LOCC protocols with finitely many rounds of communication, and that approximate transformations can be approximated by ensemble transformations within an SLOCC class. Then we formally define a hierarchy of different forms of approximate transformations that are relevant from a physical point of view. Whereas this hierarchy collapses in the bipartite case, we show that this is not the case for the multipartite setting, which is fundamentally richer. To wit, we show that optimal multipartite approximate transformations are not generally deterministic, that ensemble transformations within an SLOCC class can achieve a higher fidelity than deterministic transformations within an SLOCC class, and that there are approximate transformations with no deterministic transformations nearby.
We study the problem of deterministic transformations of an initial pure entangled quantum state, |ψ〉, into a target pure entangled quantum state, |ϕ〉, by using local operations and classical communication (LOCC). A celebrated result of Nielsen (1999) gives the necessary and sufficient condition that makes this entanglement transformation process possible. Indeed, this process can be achieved if and only if the majorization relation ψ≺ϕ holds, where ψ and ϕ are probability vectors obtained by taking the squares of the Schmidt coefficients of the initial and target states, respectively. In general, this condition is not fulfilled. However, one can look for an approximate entanglement transformation. Vidal et al. (2000) have proposed a deterministic transformation using LOCC in order to obtain a target state |χopt〉 most approximate to |ϕ〉 in terms of maximal fidelity between them. Here, we show a strategy to deal with approximate entanglement transformations based on the properties of the majorization lattice. More precisely, we propose as approximate target state one whose Schmidt coefficients are given by the supremum between ψ and ϕ. Our proposal is inspired on the observation that fidelity does not respect the majorization relation in general. Remarkably enough, we find that for some particular interesting cases, like two-qubit pure states or the entanglement concentration protocol, both proposals are coincident.
Understanding multipartite entanglement is vital, as it underpins a wide range of phenomena across physics. The study of transformations of states via Local Operations assisted by Classical Communication (LOCC) allows one to quantitatively analyse entanglement, as it induces a partial order in the Hilbert space. However, it has been shown that, for systems with fixed local dimensions, this order is generically trivial, which prevents relating multipartite states to each other with respect to any entanglement measure. In order to obtain a non-trivial partial ordering, we study a physically motivated extension of LOCC: multi-state LOCC. Here, one considers simultaneous LOCC transformations acting on a finite number of entangled pure states. We study both multipartite and bipartite multi-state transformations. In the multipartite case, we demonstrate that one can change the stochastic LOCC (SLOCC) class of the individual initial states by only applying Local Unitaries (LUs). We show that, by transferring entanglement from one state to the other, one can perform state conversions not possible in the single copy case; provide examples of multipartite entanglement catalysis; and demonstrate improved probabilistic protocols. In the bipartite case, we identify numerous non-trivial LU transformations and show that the source entanglement is not additive. These results demonstrate that multi-state LOCC has a much richer landscape than single-state LOCC.
We studied pure state transformations using local operations assisted by finitely many rounds of classical communication (LOCCIN) [C. Spee, J. I. de Vicente, D. Sauerwein, and B. Kraus [Phys. Rev. Lett. (to be published)], arXiv:1606.04418]. Here, we present the details of some of the proofs and generalize the construction of examples of state transformations via LOCCIN which require a probabilistic step. However, we also present explicit examples of SLOCC classes where any separable transformation can be realized by a protocol in which each step is deterministic (all-det-LOCCIN). Such transformations can be considered as natural generalizations of bipartite transformations. Furthermore, we provide examples of pure state transformations which are possible via separable transformations, but not via LOCCIN. We also analyze an interesting genuinely multipartite effect which we call locking or unlocking the power of other parties. This means that one party can prevent or enable the implementation of LOCC transformations by other parties. Moreover, we investigate the maximally entangled set restricted to LOCCIN and show how easily computable bounds on some entanglement measures can be derived by restricting to LOCCIN.
Suppose Alice and Bob jointly possess a pure state, $|\ensuremath{\psi}〉$. Using local operations on their respective systems and classical communication it may be possible for Alice and Bob to transform $|\ensuremath{\psi}〉$ into another joint state $|\ensuremath{\varphi}〉$. This Letter gives necessary and sufficient conditions for this process of entanglement transformation to be possible. These conditions reveal a partial ordering on the entangled states and connect quantum entanglement to the algebraic theory of majorization. As a consequence, we find that there exist essentially different types of entanglement for bipartite quantum systems.