Bipartite entangled quantum states with a positive partial transpose (PPT), i.e., PPT entangled states, are usually considered very weakly entangled.Since no pure entanglement can be distilled from them, they are also called bound entangled.In this paper, we present two classes of (2d × 2d)-dimensional PPT entangled states for any d 2 which outperform all separable states in metrology significantly.We present strong evidence that our states provide the maximal metrological gain achievable by PPT states for a given system size.When the dimension d goes to infinity, the metrological gain of these states becomes maximal and equals the metrological gain of a pair of maximally entangled qubits.Thus, we argue that our states could be called "PPT singlets."
Bipartite entangled quantum states with a positive partial transpose (PPT), i.e., PPT entangled states, are usually considered very weakly entangled.Since no pure entanglement can be distilled from them, they are also called bound entangled.In this paper, we present two classes of (2d × 2d)-dimensional PPT entangled states for any d 2 which outperform all separable states in metrology significantly.We present strong evidence that our states provide the maximal metrological gain achievable by PPT states for a given system size.When the dimension d goes to infinity, the metrological gain of these states becomes maximal and equals the metrological gain of a pair of maximally entangled qubits.Thus, we argue that our states could be called "PPT singlets."
Bipartite entangled quantum states with a positive partial transpose (PPT), i.e., PPT entangled states, are usually considered very weakly entangled. Since no pure entanglement can be distilled from them, they are also called bound entangled. In this paper, we present two classes of (2d×2d)-dimensional PPT entangled states for any d≥2 which outperform all separable states in metrology significantly. We present strong evidence that our states provide the maximal metrological gain achievable by PPT states for a given system size. When the dimension d goes to infinity, the metrological gain of these states becomes maximal and equals the metrological gain of a pair of maximally entangled qubits. Thus, we argue that our states could be called "PPT singlets."Received 16 November 2020Revised 18 March 2021Accepted 29 March 2021Corrected 8 June 2021DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.023101Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasEntanglement detectionEntanglement manipulationQuantum metrologyGeneral PhysicsQuantum Information
Quantum metrology overcomes standard precision limits and has the potential to play a key role in quantum sensing. Quantum mechanics, through the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, imposes limits on the precision of measurements. Conventional bounds to the measurement precision such as the shot noise limit are not as fundamental as the Heisenberg limits, and can be beaten with quantum strategies that employ 'quantum tricks' such as squeezing and entanglement. Bipartite entangled quantum states with a positive partial transpose (PPT), i.e., PPT entangled states, are usually considered to be too weakly entangled for applications. Since no pure entanglement can be distilled from them, they are also called bound entangled states. We provide strategies, using which multipartite quantum states that have a positive partial transpose with respect to all bi-partitions of the particles can still outperform separable states in linear interferometers.
Entangled states with a positive partial transpose (so-called PPT states) are central to many interesting problems in quantum theory. On the one hand, they are considered to be weakly entangled, since no pure state entanglement can be distilled from them. On the other hand, it has been shown recently that some of these PPT states exhibit genuinely high-dimensional entanglement, i.e., they have a high Schmidt number. Here we investigate the ($d\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}d$)-dimensional PPT states for $d\ensuremath{\ge}4$ discussed recently by E. Sindici and M. Piani [Phys. Rev. A 97, 032319 (2018)]. By generalizing their methods to the calculation of Schmidt numbers, we show that a linear d/2 scaling of its Schmidt number in the local dimension d can be attained.
Genuine high-dimensional entanglement, i.e., the property of having a high Schmidt number, constitutes an instrumental resource in quantum communication, overcoming limitations of low-dimensional systems. States with a positive partial transpose (PPT) are generally considered weakly entangled, as they can never be distilled into pure entangled states. This naturally raises the question of whether high Schmidt numbers are possible for PPT states. Volume estimates suggest that optimal, i.e., linear, scaling in the local dimension should be possible, albeit without providing insight into the possible slope. We provide the first explicit construction of a family of PPT states that achieves linear scaling in the local dimension and we prove that random PPT states typically share this feature. Our construction also allows us to prove a recent conjecture of Chen et al. on the existence of PPT states whose Schmidt number increases by an arbitrarily large amount upon partial transposition. Finally, we link the Schmidt number to entangled sub-block matrices of a quantum state. We use this connection to prove that quantum states that are either (i) invariant under partial transposition on the smallest of their two subsystems, or (ii) absolutely PPT cannot have a maximal Schmidt number. Overall, our findings shed new light on some fundamental problems in entanglement theory.
Summary: \nEntanglement is a strange feature contained in the quantum mechanical framework, first observed theoretically by Erwin Schrödinger and Albert Einstein. An inherent attribute of entanglement is non-locality, and in the continuation of this, several non-reductionist features, which are conceptually challenging and philosophically interesting. \n \nA considerable growth of the interest in quantum entanglement has occurred since the early 1990s, and much of the reason for this is that the tools of quantum optics and modern instrumentation have made it possible to measure and manipulate entangled quantum systems. Today, several applications of entanglement exist, including quantum computers and several areas in quantum communications. \n \nA quantum state is either separable or entangled, it cannot be none or both. A separable state do not exhibit the non-local features found in entangled states, and are in this sense comparable to classic states. An important issue here is the separability problem, which is the problem of determining whether a given state is entangled or not. \n \nWe study these quantum states as Hermitian matrices with positive eigenvalues in convex spaces. The PPT criterion is based on the partial transposition operation, which essentially transposes one of the two subsystems in the quantum system. For some states the result is another quantum (positive) state, and these are PPT (Positive Partial Transpose) states, while others that gain negative eigenvalues are called NPT states. \n \nFor systems of dimensions 2 × 2 and 2 × 3, the PPT states are identical to the separable states, and the NPT states are identical to the entangled states, so the PPT criterion is always conclusive. But for larger dimensions, such as for instance the 3 × 3 system, there always exist PPT states that are entangled, so for this case the PPT criterion can only be used in a contrapositive way. Since entangled PPT states in this sense seem to have great significance, their characteristics are worth studying. \nAs mentioned, the PPT criterion uses the transposition map on one of the two subsystems of a composite quantum system. Transposition is an example of a positive map, in that it maps all quantum states into quantum states. It is possible to use positive maps to formulate a much more general criterion for the separability problem.There is a link (an isomorphism) between positive maps and a subset of Hermitian operators called entanglement witnesses. \n \nThe so-called Horodecki criterion states that a quantum state is separable if and only if the expectation value of all entanglement witnesses in the state are non-negative. If the expectation value of one (or possibly several) entanglement witnesses in a given quantum state is negative, then the state is always entangled. This criterion is both necessary and sufficient, but demands that we can characterize the entire set of entanglement witnesses. \n \nThe approach in this thesis is through geometry. Of fundamental importance is the convex nature of the sets in question. The knowledge and understanding of the extremal points in these sets is very relevant, since they describe the sets completely. Undertaking completely analytic studies of the geometry at hand is in general very hard, especially as the dimension of the systems grow. The development and use of numerical tools is therefore essential.
Using a geometric measure of entanglement quantification based on Euclidean distance of the Hermitian matrices, we obtain the minimum distance between a bipartite bound entangled n- qudit density matrix and the maximally mixed state.This minimum distance for which entangled density matrices necessarily have positive partial transpose (PPT) is obtained as dn(dn−1)+11, which is also a lower limit for the existence of 1-distillable entangled states. The separable states necessarily lie within a minimum distance of 1+dn−1R from the Identity,where R is the radius of the closed ball homeomorphic to the set of density matrices, which is lesser than the limit for the limit for PPT bound entangled states. Furthermore an alternate proof on the non-emptiness of the PPT bound entangled states has also been given.