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arXiv:1907.03664 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

Mixed states in one spatial dimension: Decompositions and correspondence with nonnegative matrices

Gemma de las Cuevas, Tim Netzer

Published Apr 1, 2020• 13 citations
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Abstract

We study six natural decompositions of mixed states in one spatial dimension: the matrix product density operator form, the local purification form, the separable decomposition (for separable states), and their three translational invariant analogs. For bipartite states diagonal in the computational basis, we show that these decompositions correspond to well-studied factorizations of an associated nonnegative matrix. Specifically, the first three decompositions correspond to the minimal factorization, the nonnegative factorization, and the positive semidefinite factorization. We also show that a symmetric version of these decompositions corresponds to the symmetric factorization, the completely positive factorization, and the completely positive semidefinite transposed factorization. We leverage this correspondence to characterize the six decompositions of mixed states.

DOI
10.1063/1.5127668

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In [Formula: see text] dimensions, entangled mixed states that are positive under partial transposition (PPT states) must have rank at least four. These rank four states are completely understood. We say that they have rank [Formula: see text] since both a state [Formula: see text] and its partial transpose [Formula: see text] have rank four. The next problem is to understand the extremal PPT states of rank [Formula: see text]. We call two states [Formula: see text]-equivalent if they are related by a product transformation. A generic rank [Formula: see text] PPT state [Formula: see text] is extremal, and both [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] have six product vectors in their ranges, and no product vectors in their kernels. The three numbers [Formula: see text] are [Formula: see text]-invariants that help us classify the state. There is no analytical understanding of such states. We have studied numerically a few types of nongeneric rank five PPT states, in particular, states with one or more product vectors in their kernels. We find an interesting new analytical construction of all rank four extremal PPT states, up to [Formula: see text]-equivalence, where they appear as boundary states on one single five-dimensional face on the set of normalized PPT states. The interior of the face consists of rank [Formula: see text] states with four common product vectors in their kernels, it is a simplex of separable states surrounded by entangled PPT states. We say that a state [Formula: see text] is [Formula: see text]-symmetric if [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are [Formula: see text]-equivalent, and is genuinely [Formula: see text]-symmetric if it is [Formula: see text]-equivalent to a state [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text]. Genuine [Formula: see text]-symmetry implies a special form of [Formula: see text]-symmetry. We have produced numerically, by a special method, a random sample of rank [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]-symmetric states. About 50 of these are of type [Formula: see text], among those all are extremal and about half are genuinely [Formula: see text]-symmetric. All these genuinely [Formula: see text]-symmetric states can be transformed to have a circulant form. We find however that this is not a generic property of genuinely [Formula: see text]-symmetric states. The remaining [Formula: see text]-symmetric states found in the search have product vectors in their kernels, and they inspired us to study such states without regard to [Formula: see text]-symmetry.

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We study six natural decompositions of mixed states in one spatial dimension: the matrix product density operator form, the local purification form, the separable decomposition (for separable states), and their three translational invariant analogs. For bipartite states diagonal in the computational basis, we show that these decompositions correspond to well-studied factorizations of an associated nonnegative matrix. Specifically, the first three decompositions correspond to the minimal factorization, the nonnegative factorization, and the positive semidefinite factorization. We also show that a symmetric version of these decompositions corresponds to the symmetric factorization, the completely positive factorization, and the completely positive semidefinite transposed factorization. We leverage this correspondence to characterize the six decompositions of mixed states.
The operator Schmidt rank is the minimum number of terms required to express a state as a sum of elementary tensor factors. Here we provide a new proof of the fact that any bipartite mixed state with operator Schmidt rank two is separable, and can be written as a sum of two positive semidefinite matrices per site. Our proof uses results from the theory of free spectrahedra and operator systems, and illustrates the use of a connection between decompositions of quantum states and decompositions of nonnegative matrices. In the multipartite case, we prove that any Hermitian Matrix Product Density Operator (MPDO) of bond dimension two is separable, and can be written as a sum of at most four positive semidefinite matrices per site. This implies that these states can only contain classical correlations, and very few of them, as measured by the entanglement of purification. In contrast, MPDOs of bond dimension three can contain an unbounded amount of classical correlations.
We analyze the description of quantum many-body mixed states using matrix product states and operators. We consider two such descriptions: (i) as a matrix product density operator of bond dimension D ; and (ii) as a purification that is written as a matrix product state of bond dimension D '. We show that these descriptions are inequivalent in the sense that D ' cannot be upper bounded by D only. Then we provide two constructive methods to obtain (ii) out of (i). The sum of squares (sos) polynomial method scales exponentially in the number of different eigenvalues, and its approximate version is formulated as a semidefinite program, which gives efficient approximate purifications whose D ' only depends on D . The eigenbasis method scales quadratically in the number of eigenvalues, and its approximate version is very efficient for rapidly decaying distributions of eigenvalues. Our results imply that a description of mixed states which is both efficient and locally positive semidefinite does not exist, but that good approximations do.
A generalization of the set of completely positive matrices called pairwise completely positive (PCP) matrices is introduced. These are pairs of matrices that share a joint decomposition so that one of them is necessarily positive semidefinite while the other one is necessarily entrywise non-negative. Basic properties of these matrix pairs are explored and several testable necessary and sufficient conditions are developed to help determine whether or not a pair is PCP. A connection with quantum entanglement is established by showing that determining whether or not a pair of matrices is pairwise completely positive is equivalent to determining whether or not a certain type of quantum state, called a conjugate local diagonal unitary invariant state, is separable. Many of the most important quantum states in entanglement theory are of this type, including isotropic states, mixed Dicke states (up to partial transposition), and maximally correlated states. As a specific application of these results, a wide family of states that have absolutely positive partial transpose are shown to in fact be separable.
A generalization of the set of completely positive matrices called pairwise completely positive (PCP) matrices is introduced. These are pairs of matrices that share a joint decomposition so that one of them is necessarily positive semidefinite while the other one is necessarily entrywise non-negative. Basic properties of these matrix pairs are explored and several testable necessary and sufficient conditions are developed to help determine whether or not a pair is PCP. A connection with quantum entanglement is established by showing that determining whether or not a pair of matrices is pairwise completely positive is equivalent to determining whether or not a certain type of quantum state, called a conjugate local diagonal unitary invariant state, is separable. Many of the most important quantum states in entanglement theory are of this type, including isotropic states, mixed Dicke states (up to partial transposition), and maximally correlated states. As a specific application of these results, a wide family of states that have absolutely positive partial transpose are shown to in fact be separable.
In [Formula: see text] dimensions, entangled mixed states that are positive under partial transposition (PPT states) must have rank at least four. These rank four states are completely understood. We say that they have rank [Formula: see text] since both a state [Formula: see text] and its partial transpose [Formula: see text] have rank four. The next problem is to understand the extremal PPT states of rank [Formula: see text]. We call two states [Formula: see text]-equivalent if they are related by a product transformation. A generic rank [Formula: see text] PPT state [Formula: see text] is extremal, and both [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] have six product vectors in their ranges, and no product vectors in their kernels. The three numbers [Formula: see text] are [Formula: see text]-invariants that help us classify the state. There is no analytical understanding of such states. We have studied numerically a few types of nongeneric rank five PPT states, in particular, states with one or more product vectors in their kernels. We find an interesting new analytical construction of all rank four extremal PPT states, up to [Formula: see text]-equivalence, where they appear as boundary states on one single five-dimensional face on the set of normalized PPT states. The interior of the face consists of rank [Formula: see text] states with four common product vectors in their kernels, it is a simplex of separable states surrounded by entangled PPT states. We say that a state [Formula: see text] is [Formula: see text]-symmetric if [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are [Formula: see text]-equivalent, and is genuinely [Formula: see text]-symmetric if it is [Formula: see text]-equivalent to a state [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text]. Genuine [Formula: see text]-symmetry implies a special form of [Formula: see text]-symmetry. We have produced numerically, by a special method, a random sample of rank [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]-symmetric states. About 50 of these are of type [Formula: see text], among those all are extremal and about half are genuinely [Formula: see text]-symmetric. All these genuinely [Formula: see text]-symmetric states can be transformed to have a circulant form. We find however that this is not a generic property of genuinely [Formula: see text]-symmetric states. The remaining [Formula: see text]-symmetric states found in the search have product vectors in their kernels, and they inspired us to study such states without regard to [Formula: see text]-symmetry.
The study of NNN-qubit mixed symmetric separable states is a longstanding challenging problem as no unique separability criterion exists. In this regard, we take up the NNN-qubit mixed symmetric separable states for a detailed study as these states are of experimental importance and offer an elegant mathematical analysis since the dimension of the Hilbert space is reduced from 2N{2}^{N}2N to N+1N+1N+1. Since there exists a one-to-one correspondence between the spin-jjj system and an NNN-qubit symmetric state, we employ Fano statistical tensor parameters for the parametrization of the spin-density matrix. Further, we use a geometric multiaxial representation (MAR) of the density matrix to characterize the mixed symmetric separable states. Since the separability problem is NP-hard, we choose to study it in the continuum limit where mixed symmetric separable states are characterized by the PPP-distribution function $\ensuremath{\lambda}(\ensuremath{\theta},\ensuremath{\phi})$. We show that the NNN-qubit mixed symmetric separable states can be visualized as a uniaxial system if the distribution function is independent of $\ensuremath{\theta}$ and $\ensuremath{\phi}$. We further choose a distribution function to be the most general positive function on a sphere and observe that the statistical tensor parameters characterizing the NNN-qubit symmetric system are the expansion coefficients of the distribution function. As an example for the discrete case, we investigate the MAR of a uniformly weighted two-qubit mixed symmetric separable state. We also observe that there exists a correspondence between the separability and classicality of states.