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arXiv:1309.2271 · Physica Scripta

Mutually unbiased bases and bound entanglement

Beatrix C. Hiesmayr, W. Löffler

Published Apr 1, 2014• 9 citations
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Abstract

In this contribution we relate two different key concepts: mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and entanglement. We provide a general toolbox for analyzing and comparing entanglement of quantum states for different dimensions and numbers of particles. In particular we focus on bound entanglement, i.e. highly mixed states which cannot be distilled by local operations and classical communications. For a certain class of states—for which the state-space forms a ‘ magic ’ simplex—we analyze the set of bound entangled states detected by the MUB criterion for different dimensions d and number of particles n . We find that the geometry is similar for different d and n , consequently the MUB criterion opens possibilities to investigate the typicality of positivity under partial transposition (PPT)-bound and multipartite bound entanglement more deeply and provides a simple experimentally feasible tool to detect bound entanglement.

DOI
10.1088/0031-8949/2014/t160/014017

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In this contribution we relate two different key concepts: mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and entanglement. We provide a general toolbox for analyzing and comparing entanglement of quantum states for different dimensions and numbers of particles. In particular we focus on bound entanglement, i.e. highly mixed states which cannot be distilled by local operations and classical communications. For a certain class of states—for which the state-space forms a ‘ magic ’ simplex—we analyze the set of bound entangled states detected by the MUB criterion for different dimensions d and number of particles n . We find that the geometry is similar for different d and n , consequently the MUB criterion opens possibilities to investigate the typicality of positivity under partial transposition (PPT)-bound and multipartite bound entanglement more deeply and provides a simple experimentally feasible tool to detect bound entanglement.
Abstract From a practical perspective it is advantageous to develop methods that verify entanglement in quantum states with as few measurements as possible. In this paper we investigate the minimal number of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) needed to detect bound entanglement in bipartite ( d × d ) -dimensional states, i.e. entangled states that are positive under partial transposition. In particular, we show that a class of entanglement witnesses (EWs) composed of MUBs can detect bound entanglement if the number of measurements is greater than d / 2 + 1 . This is a substantial improvement over other detection methods, requiring significantly fewer resources than either full quantum state tomography or measuring a complete set of d + 1 MUBs. Our approach is based on a partial characterisation of the (non-)decomposability of EWs. We show that non-decomposability is a universal property of MUBs, which holds regardless of the choice of complementary observables, and we find that both the number of measurements and the structure of the witness play an important role in the detection of bound entanglement.
Abstract Mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) provide a standard tool in the verification of quantum states, especially when harnessing a complete set for optimal quantum state tomography. In this work, we investigate the detection of entanglement via inequivalent sets of MUBs, with a particular focus on unextendible MUBs. These are bases for which an additional unbiased basis cannot be constructed and, consequently, are unsuitable for quantum state verification. Here, we show that unextendible MUBs, as well as other inequivalent sets in higher dimensions, can be more effective in the verification of entanglement. Furthermore, we provide an efficient and systematic method to search for inequivalent MUBs and show that such sets occur regularly within the Heisenberg–Weyl MUBs, as the dimension increases. Our findings are particularly useful for experimentalists since they demonstrate that a clever selection of MUBs allows for entanglement detection with fewer measurements.
Abstract In the present paper, a novel framework to detect genuine multipartite entanglement (GME) has been presented by computing correlations in mutually unbiased bases (MUBs). It has been shown that correlation obtained by measuring in MUBs of all biseparable multipartite states satisfy a bound, whereas GME states violate it. Thus, the presented framework turns out to be a sufficient criterion to detect entanglement in a many-body scenario. The methodology paves a suitable way to demonstrate certification of different classes of tripartite and quadripartite GME states. In addition to its operational universality, correlation obtained by measuring in MUBs is shown to be juxtaposed with some well-known genuine tripartite and quadripartite entanglement measures.
A few simply stated rules govern the entanglement patterns that can occur in mutually unbiased basis sets (MUBs) and constrain the combinations of such patterns that can coexist in full complements of MUBs. We consider Hilbert spaces of prime power dimensions (D=pND={p}^{N}D=pN), as realized by systems of NNN prime-state particles, where full complements of D+1D+1D+1 MUBs are known to exist, and we assume only that MUBs are eigenbases of generalized Pauli operators, without using any particular construction. The general rules include the following: (1) In any MUB, a given particle appears either in a pure state or totally entangled and (2) in any full MUB complement, each particle is pure in (p+1p+1p+1) bases (not necessarily the same ones) and totally entangled in the remaining (${p}^{N}\ensuremath{-}p$). It follows that the maximum number of product bases is p+1p+1p+1 and, when this number is realized, all remaining (${p}^{N}\ensuremath{-}p$) bases in the complement are characterized by the total entanglement of every particle. This ``standard distribution'' is inescapable for two-particle systems (of any ppp), where only product and generalized Bell bases are admissible MUB types. This and the following results generalize previous results for qubits [Phys. Rev. A 65. 032320 (2002); Phys. Rev. A 72, 062310 (2005)] and qutrits [Phys. Rev. A 70, 012302 (2004)], drawing particularly upon [Phys. Rev. A 72, 062310 (2005)]. With three particles there are three MUB types, and these may be combined in (p+2p+2p+2) different ways to form full complements. With N=4N=4N=4, there are 6 MUB types for p=2p=2p=2, but new MUB types become possible with larger ppp, and these are essential to realizing full complements. With this example, we argue that new MUB types that show new entanglement patterns should enter with every step in NNN and, also, when NNN is a prime plus 1, at a critical ppp value, $p=N\ensuremath{-}1$. Such MUBs should play critical roles in filling complements.
Certifying entanglement is an important step in the development of many quantum technologies, especially for higher-dimensional systems, where entanglement promises increased capabilities for quantum communication and computation. A key feature distinguishing entanglement from classical correlations is the occurrence of correlations for complementary measurement bases. In particular, mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) are a paradigmatic example that is well-understood and routinely employed for entanglement certification. However, implementing unbiased measurements exactly is challenging and not generically possible for all physical platforms. Here, we extend the entanglement-certification toolbox from correlations in MUBs to arbitrary bases. This practically significant simplification paves the way for efficient characterizations of high-dimensional entanglement in a wide range of physical systems. Furthermore, we introduce a simple three-MUBs construction for all dimensions without using the Wootters-Fields construction, potentially simplifying experimental requirements when measurements in more than two MUBs are needed, especially in high-dimensional settings.
Mutually unbiased measurements (MUMs) are generalized from the concept of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and include the complete set of MUBs as a special case, but they are superior to MUBs as they do not need to be rank one projectors. We investigate entanglement detection using sets of MUMs and derive separability criteria for multipartite qudit systems, arbitrary high-dimensional bipartite systems of a d1-dimensional subsystem and a d2-dimensional subsystem, and multipartite systems of multi-level subsystems. These criteria are of the advantages of more effective and wider application range than previous criteria. They provide experimental implementation in detecting entanglement of unknown quantum states.