We analyze linear maps on matrix algebras that become entanglement breaking after composing a finite or infinite number of times with themselves. This means that the Choi matrix of the iterated linear map becomes separable in the tensor product space. If a linear map becomes entanglement breaking after finitely many iterations, we say that the map has a finite index of separability. In particular, we show that every unital positive partial transpose (PPT) channel has a finite index of separability and that the class of unital channels that have a finite index of separability is a dense subset of the unital channels. We construct concrete examples of maps which are not PPT but have a finite index of separability. We prove that there is a large class of unital channels that are asymptotically entanglement breaking. Our work is motivated by Christandl’s PPT-squared conjecture. This conjecture states that every PPT channel, when composed with itself, becomes entanglement breaking.
Abstract We investigate entanglement breaking times of Markovian evolutions in discrete and continuous time. In continuous time, we characterize which Markovian evolutions are eventually entanglement breaking, that is, evolutions for which there is a finite time after which any entanglement initially present has been destroyed by the noisy evolution. In the discrete-time framework, we consider the entanglement breaking index, that is, the number of times a quantum channel has to be composed with itself before it becomes entanglement breaking. The
PPT2 PPT2 conjecture is that every PPT quantum channel has an entanglement breaking index of at most 2; we prove that every faithful PPT quantum channel has a finite entanglement breaking index, and more generally, any faithful PPT CP map whose Hilbert–Schmidt adjoint is also faithful is eventually entanglement breaking. We also provide a method to obtain concrete bounds on this index for any faithful quantum channel. To obtain these estimates, we use a notion of robustness of separability to obtain bounds on the radius of the largest separable ball around faithful product states. We also extend the framework of Poincaré inequalities for non-primitive semigroups to the discrete setting to quantify the convergence of quantum semigroups in discrete time, which is of independent interest.
Abstract: We investigate entanglement breaking times of Markovian evolutions in discrete and continuous time. In continuous time, we characterize which Markovian evolutions are eventually entanglement breaking, that is, evolutions for which there is a finite time after which any entanglement initially present has been destroyed by the noisy evolution. In the discrete-time framework, we consider the entanglement breaking index, that is, the number of times a quantum channel has to be composed with itself before it becomes entanglement breaking. The PPT2 conjecture is that every PPT quantum channel has an entanglement breaking index of at most 2; we prove that every faithful PPT quantum channel has a finite entanglement breaking index, and more generally, any faithful PPT CP map whose Hilbert–Schmidt adjoint is also faithful is eventually entanglement breaking. We also provide a method to obtain concrete bounds on this index for any faithful quantum channel. To obtain these estimates, we use a notion of robustness of separability to obtain bounds on the radius of the largest separable ball around faithful product states. We also extend the framework of Poincaré inequalities for non-primitive semigroups to the discrete setting to quantify the convergence of quantum semigroups in discrete time, which is of independent interest.