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arXiv:2212.11015 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Seven definitions of bipartite bound entanglement

Michael Gaida, Matthias Kleinmann

Published Aug 9, 2023• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract An entangled state is bound entangled if one cannot combine any number of copies of the state to a maximally entangled state by using only local operations and classical communication. If one formalizes this notion of bound entanglement, one arrives immediately at four different definitions. In addition, at least three more definitions are commonly used in the literature, in particular in the very first paper on bound entanglement. Here we review critical distillation protocols and we examine how different results from quantum information theory interact in order to prove that all seven definitions are eventually equivalent. Our self-contained analysis unifies and extends previous results scattered in the literature and reveals details of the structure of bound entanglement.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8121/aceecc

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Abstract An entangled state is bound entangled if one cannot combine any number of copies of the state to a maximally entangled state by using only local operations and classical communication. If one formalizes this notion of bound entanglement, one arrives immediately at four different definitions. In addition, at least three more definitions are commonly used in the literature, in particular in the very first paper on bound entanglement. Here we review critical distillation protocols and we examine how different results from quantum information theory interact in order to prove that all seven definitions are eventually equivalent. Our self-contained analysis unifies and extends previous results scattered in the literature and reveals details of the structure of bound entanglement.
Bound entanglement is a special form of quantum entanglement that cannot be used for distillation, i.e. the local transformation of copies of arbitrarily entangled states into a smaller number of approximately maximally entangled states. Implying an inherent irreversibility of quantum resources, this phenomenon highlights the gaps in our current theory of entanglement. This review provides a comprehensive exploration of the key findings on bipartite bound entanglement. We focus on systems of finite dimensions, an area of high relevance for many quantum information processing tasks. We elucidate the properties of bound entanglement and its interconnections with various facets of quantum information theory and quantum information processing. The paper highlights areas where our understanding of bound entangled states, particularly in their detection and characterization, remains underdeveloped. By highlighting the need for further research into this phenomenon and underscoring relevant open questions, this paper invites researchers to unravel its relevance for our understanding of entanglement in Nature and how this resource can most effectively be used for applications in quantum technology.
The traditional perspective in quantum resource theories concerns how to use free operations to convert one resourceful quantum state to another one. For example, a fundamental and well known question in entanglement theory is to determine the distillable entanglement of a bipartite state, which is equal to the maximum rate at which fresh Bell states can be distilled from many copies of a given bipartite state by employing local operations and classical communication for free. It is the aim of this paper to take this kind of question to the next level, with the main question being: What is the best way of using free channels to convert one resourceful quantum channel to another? Here we focus on the the resource theory of entanglement for bipartite channels and establish several fundamental tasks and results regarding it. In particular, we establish bounds on several pertinent information processing tasks in channel entanglement theory, and we define several entanglement measures for bipartite channels, including the logarithmic negativity and the κκκ-entanglement. We also show that the max-Rains information of [Bäuml et al., Physical Review Letters, 121, 250504 (2018)] has a divergence interpretation, which is helpful for simplifying the results of this earlier work.
We prove continuity of distillable entanglement, the optimal asymptotic rate at which copies of a bipartite state can be converted into maximally entangled pairs by local operations and classical communication (LOCC) with vanishing error. We establish an explicit asymptotic continuity bound that holds for arbitrary bipartite states and depends logarithmically on the system dimension. This bound has the same structure as known continuity bounds for conditional entropy, entanglement cost, and relative entropy of entanglement. Our proof constructs an explicit LOCC protocol that converts either of two arbitrary bipartite states into the other at an ebit cost that vanishes as their trace distance tends to zero.
We construct a simplex for multipartite qubit states of even number nnn of qubits, which has the same geometry concerning separability, mixedness, kind of entanglement, amount of entanglement, and nonlocality as the bipartite qubit states. We derive the entanglement of the class of states which can be described by only three real parameters with the help of a multipartite measure for all discrete systems. We prove that the bounds on this measure are optimal for the whole class of states and that it reveals that the states possess only nnn-partite entanglement and not, e.g., bipartite entanglement. We then show that this nnn-partite entanglement can be increased by stochastic local operations and classical communication to the purest maximal entangled states. However, pure nnn-partite entanglement cannot be distilled; consequently all entangled states in the simplex are nnn-partite bound entangled. We study also Bell inequalities and find the same geometry as for bipartite qubits. Moreover, we show how the (hidden) nonlocality for all nnn-partite bound entangled states can be revealed.
We derive an upper bound on the one-way distillable entanglement of bipartite quantum states. To this end, we revisit the notion of degradable, conjugate degradable, and antidegrad-able bipartite quantum states [1]. We prove that for degradable and conjugate degradable states the one-way distillable entanglement is equal to the coherent information, and thus given by a single-letter formula. Furthermore, it is well-known that the one-way distillable entanglement of antidegradable states is zero. We use these results to derive an upper bound for arbitrary bipartite quantum states, which is based on a convex decomposition of a bipartite state into degradable and antidegradable states. This upper bound is always at least as good an upper bound as the entanglement of formation. Applying our bound to the qubit depolarizing channel, we obtain an upper bound on its quantum capacity that is strictly better than previously known bounds in the high noise regime. We also transfer the concept of approximate degradability [2] to quantum states and show that this yields another easily computable upper bound on the one-way distillable entanglement. Moreover, both methods of obtaining upper bounds on the one-way distillable entanglement can be combined into a generalized one.