Amplitude damping changes entangled pure states into usually less-entangled mixed states. We show, however, that even local amplitude damping of one or two qubits can result in mixed states more entangled than pure states if one compares the relative entropy of entanglement (REE) for a given degree of the Bell--Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality violation (referred to as nonlocality). By applying Monte Carlo simulations, we find the maximally entangled mixed states and show that they are likely to be optimal by checking the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions, which generalize the method of Lagrange multipliers for this nonlinear optimization problem. We show that the REE for mixed states can exceed that of pure states if the nonlocality is in the range (0,0.82) and the maximal difference between these REEs is 0.4. A former comparison [Phys. Rev. A 78, 052308 (2008)] of the REE for a given negativity showed analogous property but the corresponding maximal difference in the REEs is one order smaller (i.e., 0.039) and the negativity range is (0,0.53) only. For appropriate comparison, we normalized the nonlocality measure to be equal to the standard entanglement measures, including the negativity, for arbitrary two-qubit pure states. We also analyze the influence of the phase-damping channel on the entanglement of the initially pure states. We show that the minimum of the REE for a given nonlocality can be achieved by this channel, contrary to the amplitude-damping channel.
Amplitude damping changes entangled pure states into usually less-entangled mixed states. We show, however, that even local amplitude damping of one or two qubits can result in mixed states more entangled than pure states if one compares the relative entropy of entanglement (REE) for a given degree of the Bell--Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality violation (referred to as nonlocality). By applying Monte Carlo simulations, we find the maximally entangled mixed states and show that they are likely to be optimal by checking the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions, which generalize the method of Lagrange multipliers for this nonlinear optimization problem. We show that the REE for mixed states can exceed that of pure states if the nonlocality is in the range (0,0.82) and the maximal difference between these REEs is 0.4. A former comparison [Phys. Rev. A 78, 052308 (2008)] of the REE for a given negativity showed analogous property but the corresponding maximal difference in the REEs is one order smaller (i.e., 0.039) and the negativity range is (0,0.53) only. For appropriate comparison, we normalized the nonlocality measure to be equal to the standard entanglement measures, including the negativity, for arbitrary two-qubit pure states. We also analyze the influence of the phase-damping channel on the entanglement of the initially pure states. We show that the minimum of the REE for a given nonlocality can be achieved by this channel, contrary to the amplitude-damping channel.
It is well known that for two qubits the upper bounds of the relative entropy of entanglement (REE) for a given concurrence as well as the negativity for a given concurrence are reached by pure states. We show that, by contrast, there are two-qubit mixed states for which the REE for some range of a fixed negativity is higher than that for pure states. Moreover, we demonstrate that a mixture of a pure entangled state and pure separable state orthogonal to it is likely to give the maximal REE. By noting that the negativity is a measure of entanglement cost under operations preserving positivity of partial transpose, our results provide an explicit example of operations such that, even though the entanglement cost for an exact preparation is the same, the entanglement of distillation of a mixed state can exceed that of pure states. This means that the entanglement manipulation via a pure state can result in a larger entanglement loss than that via a mixed state.
We review some counterintuitive properties of standard measures describing quantum entanglement and violation of Bell's inequality (often referred to as “nonlocality”) in two-qubit systems. By comparing the nonlocality, negativity, concurrence, and relative entropy of entanglement, we show: (i) ambiguity in ordering states with the entanglement measures, (ii) ambiguity of robustness of entanglement in lossy systems and (iii) existence of two-qubit mixed states more entangled than pure states having the same negativity or nonlocality. To support our conclusions, we performed a Monte Carlo simulation of 106two-qubit states and calculated all the entanglement measures for them. Our demonstration of the relativity of entanglement measures implies also how desirable is to properly use an operationally-defined entanglement measure rather than to apply formally-defined standard measures. In fact, the problem of estimating the degree of entanglement of a bipartite system cannot be analyzed separately from the measurement process that changes the system and from the intended application of the generated entanglement.
We systematically characterize quantum entanglement in all sixteen combinations of two-qubit Bell states across three operational regimes: pure superposition, noiseless mixing, and asymmetric mixing of one noisy and one pure Bell state. For pure superpositions, we calculate the von Neumann entropy and show that entanglement depends critically on the relative phase phi between superposed states. For mixed states, we use concurrence C under three physically motivated decoherence channels. The Depolarizing (DP) and Phase Damping (PD) channels are modeled as global, collective operations on the two-qubit Hilbert space, while Amplitude Damping (AD) is treated as independent local decay on each qubit, reflecting the asymmetric, energy-dissipating nature of spontaneous emission. A central and counterintuitive result is that increasing noise can raise concurrence in specific parameter regimes across all three channels. We further map the boundary between mathematical entanglement (C > 0) and operational quantum non-locality using the Horodecki criterion, finding this boundary to be strongly channel-dependent. Under Phase Damping, the Bell-local entanglement regime vanishes entirely for identical and same-bases mixtures, meaning any surviving entanglement guarantees a CHSH violation. Under Depolarizing noise, a large Bell-local region requires mixing probability r > 1/sqrt(2) to recover non-locality at maximum noise. For Amplitude Damping, certain mixtures exhibit a non-monotonic Horodecki parameter M(T): concurrence decreases monotonically with noise, yet the capacity for CHSH violation is lost at intermediate noise levels and restored at high noise, as maximal damping repurifies the noisy branch. These results provide a unified analytical reference for entanglement and non-locality management across Bell-state combinations and decoherence channels relevant to NISQ architectures.
Nonlocality and quantum entanglement constitute two special aspects of the quantum correlations existing in quantum systems, which are of paramount importance in quantum-information theory. Traditionally, they have been regarded as identical (equivalent, in fact, for pure two qubit states, that is, Gisin's Theorem ), yet they constitute different resources. Describing nonlocality by means of the violation of several Bell inequalities, we obtain by direct optimization those states of two qubits that maximally violate a Bell inequality, in terms of their degree of mixture as measured by either their participation ratio R = 1/Tr(ρ 2 ) or their maximum eigenvalue λ max . This optimum value is obtained as well, which coincides with previous results. Comparison with entanglement is performed too. An example of an application is given in the XY model. In this novel approximation, we also concentrate on the nonlocality for linear combinations of pure states of two qubits, providing a closed form for their maximal nonlocality measure. The case of Bell diagonal mixed states of two qubits is also extensively studied. Special attention concerning the connection between nonlocality and entanglement for mixed states of two qubits is paid to the so-called maximally entangled mixed states. Additional aspects for the case of two qubits are also described in detail. Since we deal with qubit systems, we will perform an analogous study for three qubits, employing similar tools. Relation between distillability and nonlocality is explored quantitatively for the whole space of states of three qubits. We finally extend our analysis to four-qubit systems, where nonlocality for generalized Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger states of arbitrary number of parties is computed.
Inspired by a conjecture related to numerical investigations for a quantum channel in a system of large size, we shall study relations between two different entropies of a quantum channel. One of them is defined by Gour and Wilde as the generalization of quantum relative entropy and maximally mixed state. The second one is defined as the difference between the entropy of the Choi state of the quantum channel and a constant number. At first, we show that the latter entropy is an upper boundary of the former entropy. Moreover, we also give a sufficient and necessary condition that the two entropies are equal. That is, if and only if the relative entropy reaches its supremum on the maximal entangled pure state in the former entropy. At last, to study the difference between the two entropies, we expect to find some quantum channels in which their related entropies do not reach their supremum on the maximal entangled pure states for the former entropy. By calculating the two entropies, we find that amplitude-damping channels are desired examples.
The problem of ordering of two-qubit states imposed by the relative entropy of entanglement ( E ) in comparison with the concurrence ( C ) and negativity ( N ) is studied. Analytical examples of states consistently and inconsistently ordered by the entanglement measures are given. In particular, the states for which any of the three measures imposes order opposite to that given by the other two measures are described. Moreover, examples are given of pairs of the states for which (i) and but is different from , (ii) and but differs from , (iii) , and ; and (iv) states having the same E , C and N but still violating the Bell–Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt inequality to different degrees.