We analyze entanglement and nonlocal properties of the convex set of symmetric $N$-qubit states which are diagonal in the Dicke basis. First, we demonstrate that within this set, semidefinite positivity of partial transposition (PPT) is necessary and sufficient for separability---which has also been reported recently by Yu [Phys. Rev. A 94, 060101(R) (2016)]. Furthermore, we show which states among the entangled diagonal symmetric are nonlocal under two-body Bell inequalities. The diagonal symmetric convex set contains a simple and extended family of states that violate the weak Peres conjecture, being PPT with respect to one partition but violating a Bell inequality in such partition. Our method opens directions to address entanglement and nonlocality on higher dimensional symmetric states, where presently very few results are available.
We analyze entanglement and nonlocal properties of the convex set of symmetric N-qubit states which are diagonal in the Dicke basis. First, we demonstrate that within this set, semidefinite positivity of partial transposition (PPT) is necessary and sufficient for separability---which has also been reported recently by Yu [Phys. Rev. A 94, 060101(R) (2016)]. Furthermore, we show which states among the entangled diagonal symmetric are nonlocal under two-body Bell inequalities. The diagonal symmetric convex set contains a simple and extended family of states that violate the weak Peres conjecture, being PPT with respect to one partition but violating a Bell inequality in such partition. Our method opens directions to address entanglement and nonlocality on higher dimensional symmetric states, where presently very few results are available.
For multipartite states, we consider a notion of D symmetry. For a system of N qubits, it coincides with the usual permutational symmetry. In the case of N qudits ($d\ensuremath{\ge}3$), the D symmetry is stronger than the permutational one. For the space of all D-symmetric vectors in ${({\mathbb{C}}^{d})}^{\ensuremath{\bigotimes}N}$, we define a basis composed of vectors ${|{R}_{N,d;k}\ensuremath{\rangle}:\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}0\ensuremath{\le}k\ensuremath{\le}N(d\ensuremath{-}1)}$ which are analogs of Dicke states. The aim of this paper is to discuss the problem of separability of D-symmetric states which are diagonal in the basis ${|{R}_{N,d;k}\ensuremath{\rangle}}$. We show that if N is even and $d\ensuremath{\ge}2$ is arbitrary then a positive partial transposition property is a necessary and sufficient condition of separability for D-invariant diagonal states. In this way, we generalize results obtained by Yu [Phys. Rev. A 94, 060101(R) (2016)] and Wolfe and Yelin [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 140402 (2014)]. Our strategy is to use some classical mathematical results on a moment problem.
We provide a complete mathematical theory for the entanglement of mixtures of Dicke states. These quantum states form an important subclass of bosonic states arising in the study of indistinguishable particles. We introduce a tensor-based parametrization where the diagonal entries of these states are encoded as a symmetric tensor, enabling a direct translation between entanglement properties and well-studied convex cones of tensors. Our results bridge multipartite entanglement theory with semialgebraic geometry and the theory of completely positive and copositive tensors.
This dictionary maps separability to completely positive tensors, the PPT property to moment tensors, entanglement witnesses to copositive tensors, and decomposable witnesses to sum of squares tensors. Using this framework, we construct explicit PPT entangled states in three or more qutrits, disproving a recent conjecture. We establish that PPT entanglement exists for all multipartite systems with local dimension d >= 3 and n >= 3 parties. We also show that, for mixtures of Dicke states, the PPT condition with respect to the most balanced bipartition implies all other PPT conditions.
We further connect bosonic extendibility of mixtures of Dicke states to the duals of known hierarchies for non-negative polynomials, such as the ones by Reznick and Polya. We thus provide semidefinite programming relaxations for separability and entanglement testing in the Dicke subspace.
We study the separability problem in mixtures of Dicke states i.e., the separability of the so-called Diagonal Symmetric (DS) states. First, we show that separability in the case of DS in C d ⊗ C d (symmetric qudits) can be reformulated as a quadratic conic optimization problem. This connection allows us to exchange concepts and ideas between quantum information and this field of mathematics. For instance, copositive matrices can be understood as indecomposable entanglement witnesses for DS states. As a consequence, we show that positivity of the partial transposition (PPT) is sufficient and necessary for separability of DS states for d ≤ 4 . Furthermore, for d ≥ 5 , we provide analytic examples of PPT-entangled states. Second, we develop new sufficient separability conditions beyond the PPT criterion for bipartite DS states. Finally, we focus on N -partite DS qubits, where PPT is known to be necessary and sufficient for separability. In this case, we present a family of almost DS states that are PPT with respect to each partition but nevertheless entangled.
We study the separability problem in mixtures of Dicke states i.e., the separability of the so-called Diagonal Symmetric (DS) states. First, we show that separability in the case of DS in Cd⊗Cd (symmetric qudits) can be reformulated as a quadratic conic optimization problem. This connection allows us to exchange concepts and ideas between quantum information and this field of mathematics. For instance, copositive matrices can be understood as indecomposable entanglement witnesses for DS states. As a consequence, we show that positivity of the partial transposition (PPT) is sufficient and necessary for separability of DS states for d≤4. Furthermore, for d≥5, we provide analytic examples of PPT-entangled states. Second, we develop new sufficient separability conditions beyond the PPT criterion for bipartite DS states. Finally, we focus on N-partite DS qubits, where PPT is known to be necessary and sufficient for separability. In this case, we present a family of almost DS states that are PPT with respect to each partition but nevertheless entangled.
The structural study of entanglement in multipartite systems is hindered by the lack of necessary and sufficient operational criteria able to discriminate among the various entanglement properties of a given mixed state. Here, we pursue a different route to the study of multipartite entanglement based on the closeness of a multipartite state to the set of separable ones. In particular, we analyze multipartite diagonal symmetric N-qubit states and provide the analytical expression for their best separable approximation (BSA, [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2261 (1998)]), that is, their unique convex decomposition into a separable part and an entangled part, with maximal weight of the separable part.
Absolutely positive partial transpose (APPT) states, which remain PPT under every global unitary, provide a spectral relaxation of absolutely separable states, which remain separable under every such transformation. Despite substantial progress, whether these two notions coincide beyond qubit-qudit systems remains unresolved, motivating the study of structured state families in which the APPT spectral constraints and separability can be analyzed exactly. We study this problem for Bell-diagonal states in two settings: the standard two-qutrit Weyl-Heisenberg basis and the two-ququart lattice basis generated by two-qubit Pauli operators. In the two-qutrit case, we show that a linearized necessary condition for APPT defines a polytope of spectra in which every associated Weyl-Heisenberg Bell-diagonal state admits an exact decomposition into explicitly separable states. This yields a separability criterion that applies to a region even larger than the APPT set itself. In the two-ququart lattice Bell-diagonal setting, we show that a state remains PPT under every permutation of its Bell coefficients if and only if its six largest Bell coefficients sum to at most 1/2, and we prove that all such states are separable. Equivalently, every entangled lattice Bell-diagonal state becomes NPT after a suitable coefficient permutation and is therefore not APPT. The proofs combine convex-polytope analysis, affine and symplectic orbit reductions, and exact rational decompositions into separable states supported on affine Lagrangian subsets. Our results rule out entangled APPT states in both Bell-diagonal families, and provide simple spectral inequalities as sufficient criteria for separability in both cases. Being basis-specific, however, they do not by themselves settle whether APPT and absolute separability coincide.