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arXiv:1410.6820

Multipartite Quantum States and their Marginals

Michael Walter

Published Jan 1, 2014• 23 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Subsystems of composite quantum systems are described by reduced density matrices, or quantum marginals. Important physical properties often do not depend on the whole wave function but rather only on the marginals. Not every collection of reduced density matrices can arise as the marginals of a quantum state. Instead, there are profound compatibility conditions -- such as Pauli's exclusion principle or the monogamy of quantum entanglement -- which fundamentally influence the physics of many-body quantum systems and the structure of quantum information. The aim of this thesis is a systematic and rigorous study of the general relation between multipartite quantum states, i.e., states of quantum systems that are composed of several subsystems, and their marginals. In the first part, we focus on the one-body marginals of multipartite quantum states; in the second part, we study general quantum marginals from the perspective of entropy.

DOI
10.3929/ethz-a-010250985

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Subsystems of composite quantum systems are described by reduced density matrices, or quantum marginals. Important physical properties often do not depend on the whole wave function but rather only on the marginals. Not every collection of reduced density matrices can arise as the marginals of a quantum state. Instead, there are profound compatibility conditions -- such as Pauli's exclusion principle or the monogamy of quantum entanglement -- which fundamentally influence the physics of many-body quantum systems and the structure of quantum information. The aim of this thesis is a systematic and rigorous study of the general relation between multipartite quantum states, i.e., states of quantum systems that are composed of several subsystems, and their marginals. In the first part, we focus on the one-body marginals of multipartite quantum states; in the second part, we study general quantum marginals from the perspective of entropy.
At the heart of the curious phenomenon of quantum entanglement lies the relation between the whole and its parts. In my thesis, I explore different aspects of this theme in the multipartite setting by drawing connections to concepts from statistics, graph theory, and quantum error-correcting codes: first, I address the case when joint quantum states are determined by their few-body parts and by Jaynes’ maximum entropy principle. This can be seen as an extension of the notion of entanglement, with less complex states already being determined by their few-body marginals. Second, I address the conditions for certain highly entangled multipartite states to exist. In particular, I present the solution of a long-standing open problem concerning the existence of an absolutely maximally entangled state on seven qubits. This sheds light on the algebraic properties of pure quantum states, and on the conditions that constrain the sharing of entanglement amongst multiple particles. Third, I investigate Ulam’s graph reconstruction problems in the quantum setting, and obtain legitimacy conditions of a set of states to be the reductions of a joint graph state. Lastly, I apply and extend the weight enumerator machinery from quantum error correction to investigate the existence of codes and highly entangled states in higher dimensions. This clarifies the physical interpretation of the weight enumerators and of the quantum MacWilliams identity, leading to novel applications in multipartite entanglement.
The physics of a many-particle system is determined by the correlations in its quantum state. Therefore, analyzing these correlations is the foremost task of many-body physics. Any 'a priori' constraint for the properties of the global vs. the local states-the so-called marginals-would help in order to narrow down the wealth of possible solutions for a given many-body problem, however, little is known about such constraints. We derive an equality for correlation-related quantities of any multipartite quantum system composed of finite-dimensional local parties. This relation defines a necessary condition for the compatibility of the marginal properties with those of the joint state. While the equality holds both for pure and mixed states, the pure-state version containing only entanglement measures represents a fully general monogamy relation for entanglement. These findings have interesting implications in terms of conservation laws for correlations, and also with respect to topology.
The physics of a many-particle system is determined by the correlations in its quantum state. Therefore, analyzing these correlations is the foremost task of many-body physics. Any 'a priori' constraint for the properties of the global vs. the local states-the so-called marginals-would help in order to narrow down the wealth of possible solutions for a given many-body problem, however, little is known about such constraints. We derive an equality for correlation-related quantities of any multipartite quantum system composed of finite-dimensional local parties. This relation defines a necessary condition for the compatibility of the marginal properties with those of the joint state. While the equality holds both for pure and mixed states, the pure-state version containing only entanglement measures represents a fully general monogamy relation for entanglement. These findings have interesting implications in terms of conservation laws for correlations, and also with respect to topology.
The question of whether given density operators for subsystems of a multipartite quantum system are compatible to one common total density operator is known as the quantum marginal problem. We briefly review the solution of a subclass of such problems found just recently. In particular, this provides the solution of the 111-body NNN-representability problem. Its solution, the so-called generalized Pauli constraints, restrict the set of mathematically possible fermionic occupation numbers significantly, and strengthens Pauli's exclusion principle. Moreover, we review the study of a concrete physical model of interacting fermions confined to a harmonic trap. There, we found occupation numbers close, but not exactly on the boundary of the allowed region. This new effect of quasipinning is physically relevant since it corresponds to a simplified structure of the corresponding NNN-fermion quantum state.
To find the criterion of a set of positive-definite matrices which can be written as reduced density matrices of a multipartite matrix is a hard and important problem. When the problem is concerned with multiparty density matrices, it is much more significant for computational many-body physics and many-body quantum entanglement which is one of the focuses of current quantum information theory. We give several results on the necessary compatibility relations between a set of two-party reduced density matrices and a global state in Hilbert space ${N}_{A}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{N}_{B}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{N}_{C}$ where NA{N}_{A}NA​, NB{N}_{B}NB​, and NC{N}_{C}NC​ are arbitrary.
We explore the set of unitary matrices characterized by a given structure in the context of their applications in the field of Quantum Information. In the first part of the Thesis we focus on classification of special classes of unitary matrices and possibility of introducing certain internal parameterizations. Several new results and conjectures are discussed. Second part of the Thesis is devoted to the concept of multipartite quantum entanglement. We present a solution to the problem of absolutely maximally entangled states of four subsystems with six levels each. Finally, we analyze the excess of a matrix and the corresponding Bell inequalities. This combination allows us to draw new conclusions related to quantum nonlocality.