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arXiv:1512.03293

Two proofs of Størmer's theorem

Guillaume Aubrun, Stanisław J. Szarek

Published Dec 10, 2015• 36 citations

Abstract

The structure of the set of positivity-preserving maps between matrix algebras is notoriously difficult to describe. The notable exceptions are the results by Størmer and Woronowicz from 1960s and 1970s settling the low dimensional cases. By duality, these results are equivalent to the Peres-Horodecki positive partial transpose criterion being able to unambiguously establish whether a state in a 2 x 2 or 2 x 3 quantum system is entangled or separable. However, even in these low dimensional cases, the existing arguments (known to the authors) were based on long and seemingly ad hoc computations. We present a simple proof, based on Brouwer's fixed point theorem, for the 2 x 2 case (Størmer's theorem). For completeness, we also include another argument (following the classical outline, but highly streamlined) based on a characterization of extreme self-maps of the Lorentz cone and on a link - noticed by R. Hildebrand - to the S-lemma, a well-known fact from control theory and quadratic/semi-definite programming.

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1512.03293

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The structure of the set of positivity-preserving maps between matrix algebras is notoriously difficult to describe. The notable exceptions are the results by Størmer and Woronowicz from 1960s and 1970s settling the low dimensional cases. By duality, these results are equivalent to the Peres-Horodecki positive partial transpose criterion being able to unambiguously establish whether a state in a 2 x 2 or 2 x 3 quantum system is entangled or separable. However, even in these low dimensional cases, the existing arguments (known to the authors) were based on long and seemingly ad hoc computations. We present a simple proof, based on Brouwer's fixed point theorem, for the 2 x 2 case (Størmer's theorem). For completeness, we also include another argument (following the classical outline, but highly streamlined) based on a characterization of extreme self-maps of the Lorentz cone and on a link - noticed by R. Hildebrand - to the S-lemma, a well-known fact from control theory and quadratic/semi-definite programming.

Drawing on results of Choi, Størmer and Woronowicz, we present a nearly complete characterization of certain important classes of positive maps. In particular, we construct a general class of positive linear maps acting between two matrix algebras ℬ( ) and ℬ( ), where and are finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. It turns out that elements of this class are characterized by operators from the dual cone of the set of all separable states on ℬ( ⊗ ). Subsequently, the relation between entanglements and positive maps is described. Finally, a new characterization of the cone ℬ( ) + ⊗ℬ( ) + is given.

An alternative, geometrical proof of a known theorem concerning the decomposition of positive maps of the matrix algebra has been presented. The premise of the proof is the identification of positive maps with operators preserving the Lorentz cone in four dimensions, and it allows to decompose the positive maps with respect to those preserving the boundary of the cone. In addition, useful conditions implying complete positivity of a map of have been given, together with a sufficient condition for complete positivity of an extremal Schwarz map of . Lastly, following the same geometrical approach, a description in topological terms of maps that are simultaneously completely positive and completely copositive has been presented.

The minimal operator systems over

{\rm Mat}_k(\mathbb C)_+

,

k\geqslant2

, and the Lorentz cones

\mathcal L_m

,

m\geqslant4

, are not subhomogeneous. For the

2\times2

cone we construct extreme positive maps of arbitrarily large output dimension. Positive retracts give the remaining cases. Equivalently, for fixed

k\geqslant2

and

d

, there exist

s>d

and an entangled positive operator on

\mathbb C^k\otimes\mathbb C^s

such that every compression of the second factor to

\mathbb C^d

is separable.

A new proof is presented of a theorem of L. Gurvits [LANL Unclassified Technical Report (2001), LAUR–01–2030], which states that the cone of positive block-Toeplitz matrices with matrix entries has no entangled elements. The proof of the Gurvits separation theorem is achieved by making use of the structure of the operator system dual of the operator system C ( S 1 ) ( n ) C(S^1)^{(n)} of n × n n\times n Toeplitz matrices over the complex field, and by determining precisely the structure of the generators of the extremal rays of the positive cones of the operator systems C ( S 1 ) ( n ) ⊗ min B ( H ) C(S^1)^{(n)}\otimes _{\text {min}}\mathcal {B}(\mathcal {H}) and C ( S 1 ) ( n ) ⊗ min B ( H ) C(S^1)_{(n)}\otimes _{\text {min}}\mathcal {B}(\mathcal {H}) , where H \mathcal {H} is an arbitrary Hilbert space and C ( S 1 ) ( n ) C(S^1)_{(n)} is the operator system dual of C

Abstract This chapter gives a detailed overview of entanglement for pure and mixed states. We begin with the Schmidt-decomposition theorem, which allows us to associate the subsystem mixedness of pure state with entanglement. We discuss the purification of mixed quantum states, the convexity of the set of separable states, and entanglement as a form of correlation. As an example we examine the Bloch decomposition for two qubits. For the detection of entanglement the Peres-Horodecki criterion is introduced, before we analyse the relation between entanglement and non-locality via the CHSH-Operator Criterion and the family of Werner states. We further consider Tsirelson’s bound and hidden non-locality. We then discuss important mathematical tools for entanglement detection, including the positive-map theorem, the Størmer-Woronowicz theorem, and the reduction criterion. In this context we examine the family of isotropic states. Finally, the Weyl states provide an example for which we study the geometry of two-qubit entanglement

It is well known that the positive partial transpose (PPT) criterion for determining separability is an operational separability criterion. However, in a high-dimensional (>6) situation, this criterion is not sufficient. How can we judge whether an entangled state in any high-dimensional quantum system is PPT or not? Here we propose a linear algebra method for checking the positivity of the partial transpose of a state and present a set of entangled mixed states with non-positive partial transpose.