The 'Werner gap' is the range of relevant parameters characterizing a quantum state for which it is both entangled and admits a local hidden variable model. Werner showed that the gap becomes maximal for entanglement mixed with white noise if subsystems have infinitely many levels. Here we study pure entangled states mixed with simple coloured noise modelled as a single pure product state. We provide an explicit local hidden variable model for quantum correlations of some states of this family and provide hints that there is probably a model for all quantum predictions. This demonstrates essentially a maximal Werner gap already for just two qubits. Additionally to its fundamental interest, the study has implications for quantum computation and communication. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to '50 years of Bell's theorem'.
The 'Werner gap' is the range of relevant parameters characterizing a quantum state for which it is both entangled and admits a local hidden variable model. Werner showed that the gap becomes maximal for entanglement mixed with white noise if subsystems have infinitely many levels. Here we study pure entangled states mixed with simple coloured noise modelled as a single pure product state. We provide an explicit local hidden variable model for quantum correlations of some states of this family and provide hints that there is probably a model for all quantum predictions. This demonstrates essentially a maximal Werner gap already for just two qubits. Additionally to its fundamental interest, the study has implications for quantum computation and communication. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to '50 years of Bell's theorem'.
While entanglement and violation of Bell inequalities were initially thought to be equivalent quantum phenomena, we now have different examples of entangled states whose correlations can be described by local hidden--variable models and, therefore, do not violate any Bell inequality. We provide an up to date overview of the existing local hidden--variable models for entangled quantum states, both in the bipartite and multipartite case, and discuss some of the most relevant open questions in this context. Our review covers twenty five years of this line of research since the seminal work by Werner [R. F. Werner, Phys. Rev. A 40, 8 (1989)] providing the first example of an entangled state with a local model, which in turn appeared twenty five years after the seminal work by Bell [J. S. Bell, Physics 1, 195 (1964)], about the impossibility of recovering the predictions of quantum mechanics using a local hidden--variables theory.
We demonstrate a hierarchy of various classes of quantum correlations on experimentally prepared two-qubit Werner-like states with controllable white noise. Werner states, which are white-noise-affected Bell states, are prototypal examples for studying such a hierarchy as a function of the amount of white noise. We experimentally generate Werner states and their generalizations, i.e., partially entangled pure states affected by white noise. These states enable us to study the hierarchy of the following classes of correlations: separability, entanglement, steering in three- and two-measurement scenarios, and Bell nonlocality. We show that the generalized Werner states (GWSs) reveal fundamentally different aspects of the hierarchy compared to the Werner states. In particular, we find five different parameter regimes of the GWSs, including those steerable in a two-measurement scenario but not violating Bell inequalities. This regime cannot be observed for the usual Werner states. Moreover, we find threshold curves separating different regimes of the quantum correlations and find the optimal states which allow for the largest amount of white noise which does not destroy their specific quantum correlations (e.g., unsteerable entanglement). Thus, we could identify the optimal Bell-nondiagonal GWSs which are, for this specific meaning, more robust against the white noise compared to the Bell-diagonal GWSs (i.e., Werner states).
We consider Bell tests in which the distant observers can perform local filtering before testing a Bell inequality. Notably, in this setup, certain entangled states admitting a local hidden variable model in the standard Bell scenario can nevertheless violate a Bell inequality after filtering, displaying so-called hidden nonlocality. Here we ask whether all entangled states can violate a Bell inequality after well-chosen local filtering. We answer this question in the negative by showing that there exist entangled states without hidden nonlocality. Specifically, we prove that some two-qubit Werner states still admit a local hidden variable model after any possible local filtering on a single copy of the state.
We consider Bell tests in which the distant observers can perform local filtering before testing a Bell inequality. Notably, in this setup, certain entangled states admitting a local hidden variable model in the standard Bell scenario can nevertheless violate a Bell inequality after filtering, displaying so-called hidden nonlocality. Here we ask whether all entangled states can violate a Bell inequality after well-chosen local filtering. We answer this question in the negative by showing that there exist entangled states without hidden nonlocality. Specifically, we prove that some two-qubit Werner states still admit a local hidden variable model after any possible local filtering on a single copy of the state.
The statistics of local measurements performed on certain entangled states can be reproduced using a local hidden variable (LHV) model. While all known models make use of an infinite amount of shared randomness, we show that essentially all entangled states admitting a LHV model can be simulated with finite shared randomness. Our most economical model simulates noisy two-qubit Werner states using only log_{2}(12)≃3.58 bits of shared randomness. We also discuss the case of positive operator valued measures, and the simulation of nonlocal states with finite shared randomness and finite communication. Our work represents a first step towards quantifying the cost of LHV models for entangled quantum states.
We consider the problem of reproducing the correlations obtained by arbitrary local projective measurements on the two-qubit Werner state ρ=v|ψ−⟩⟨ψ−|+(1−v)14 via a local hidden variable (LHV) model, where |ψ−⟩ denotes the singlet state. We show analytically that these correlations are local for v=999×689×10−6 cos2(π/50)≃0.6829 . In turn, as this problem is closely related to a purely mathematical one formulated by Grothendieck, our result implies a new bound on the Grothendieck constant KG(3)≤1/v≃1.4644 . We also present a LHV model for reproducing the statistics of arbitrary POVMs on the Werner state for v≃0.4553 . The techniques we develop can be adapted to construct LHV models for other entangled states, as well as bounding other Grothendieck constants.