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arXiv:1306.6816 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

Entanglement of four qubit systems: A geometric atlas with polynomial compass I (the finite world)

Frédéric Holweck, Jean-Gabriel Luque, Jean‐Yves Thibon

Published Jan 1, 2014• 27 citations
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Abstract

We investigate the geometry of the four qubit systems by means of algebraic geometry and invariant theory, which allows us to interpret certain entangled states as algebraic varieties. More precisely we describe the nullcone, i.e., the set of states annihilated by all invariant polynomials, and also the so-called third secant variety, which can be interpreted as the generalization of GHZ-states for more than three qubits. All our geometric descriptions go along with algorithms which allow us to identify any given state in the nullcone or in the third secant variety as a point of one of the 47 varieties described in the paper. These 47 varieties correspond to 47 non-equivalent entanglement patterns, which reduce to 15 different classes if we allow permutations of the qubits.

DOI
10.1063/1.4858336

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We investigate the geometry of the four qubit systems by means of algebraic geometry and invariant theory, which allows us to interpret certain entangled states as algebraic varieties. More precisely we describe the nullcone, i.e., the set of states annihilated by all invariant polynomials, and also the so-called third secant variety, which can be interpreted as the generalization of GHZ-states for more than three qubits. All our geometric descriptions go along with algorithms which allow us to identify any given state in the nullcone or in the third secant variety as a point of one of the 47 varieties described in the paper. These 47 varieties correspond to 47 non-equivalent entanglement patterns, which reduce to 15 different classes if we allow permutations of the qubits.
We propose a new approach to the geometry of the four-qubit entanglement classes depending on parameters. More precisely, we use invariant theory and algebraic geometry to describe various stratifications of the Hilbert space by Stochastic Local Operations with Classical Communication (SLOCC) invariant algebraic varieties. The normal forms of the four-qubit classification of Verstraete et al. are interpreted as dense subsets of components of the dual variety of the set of separable states and an algorithm based on the invariants/covariants of the four-qubit quantum states is proposed to identify a state with a SLOCC equivalent normal form (up to qubits permutation).
The aim of the paper is to propose geometric descriptions of multipartite entangled states using algebraic geometry. In the context of this paper, geometric means each stratum of the Hilbert space, corresponding to an entangled state, is an open subset of an algebraic variety built by classical geometric constructions (tangent lines, secant lines) from the set of separable states. In this setting, we describe well-known classifications of multipartite entanglement such as 2 × 2 × (n + 1), for n ⩾ 1, quantum systems and a new description with the 2 × 3 × 3 quantum system. Our results complete the approach of Miyake and make stronger connections with recent work of algebraic geometers. Moreover, for the quantum systems detailed in this paper, we propose an algorithm, based on the classical theory of invariants, to decide to which subvariety of the Hilbert space a given state belongs.
The geometry of four-qubit entanglement is investigated. We replace some of the polynomial invariants for four qubits introduced recently by new ones of direct geometrical meaning. It is shown that these invariants describe four points, six lines and four planes in complex projective space CP 3 . For the generic entanglement class of stochastic local operations and classical communication they take a very simple form related to the elementary symmetric polynomials in four complex variables. Moreover, suitable powers of their magnitudes are entanglement monotones that fit nicely into the geometric set of n -qubit ones related to Grassmannians of l -planes found recently. We also show that in terms of these invariants the hyperdeterminant of order 24 in the four-qubit amplitudes takes a more instructive form than the previously published expressions available in the literature. Finally, in order to understand two-, three- and four-qubit entanglement in geometric terms we propose a unified setting based on CP 3 furnished with a fixed quadric.
Abstract We approach multipartite entanglement classification in the symmetric subspace in terms of algebraic geometry, its natural language. We show that the class of symmetric separable states has the structure of a Veronese variety and that its k -secant varieties are SLOCC invariants. Thus SLOCC classes gather naturally into families. This classification presents useful properties such as a linear growth of the number of families with the number of particles, and nesting, i.e. upward consistency of the classification. We attach physical meaning to this classification through the required interaction length of parent Hamiltonians. We show that the states W N and GHZ N are in the same secant family and that, effectively, the former can be obtained in a limit from the latter. This limit is understood in terms of tangents, leading to a refinement of the previous families. We compute explicitly the classification of symmetric states with N ⩽ 4 qubits in terms of both secant families and its refinement using tangents. This paves the way to further use of projective varieties in algebraic geometry to solve open problems in entanglement theory.
We provide a classification of entangled states that uses new discrete entanglement invariants. The invariants are defined by algebraic properties of linear maps associated with the states. We prove a theorem on a correspondence between the invariants and sets of equivalent classes of entangled states. The new method works for an arbitrary finite number of finite-dimensional state subspaces. As an application of the method, we considered a large selection of cases of three subspaces of various dimensions. We also obtain an entanglement classification of four qubits, where we find 27 fundamental sets of classes.