Abstract One of the fundamental questions in quantum information theory is determining entanglement of quantum states, which is generally an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we prove that all PPT ( π ― A ⊗ π B ) -invariant quantum states are separable if and only if all extremal unital positive ( π B , π A ) -covariant maps are decomposable where π A , π B are unitary representations of a compact group and π A is irreducible. Moreover, an extremal unital positive ( π B , π A ) -covariant map L is decomposable if and only if L is completely positive or completely copositive. We then apply these results to prove that all PPT quantum channels of the form Φ ( ρ ) = a Tr ( ρ ) d Id d + b ρ + c ρ T + ( 1 − a − b − c ) diag ( ρ ) are entanglement-breaking, and that there is no A-BC PPT-entangled ( U ⊗ U ― ⊗ U ) -invariant tripartite quantum state. The former strengthens some conclusions in (Vollbrecht and Werner 2001 Phys. Rev. A 64 062307; Kopszak et al 2020 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 53 395306), and the latter resolves some open questions raised in (Collins et al 2018 Linear Algebra Appl. 5
Abstract One of the fundamental questions in quantum information theory is determining entanglement of quantum states, which is generally an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we prove that all PPT ( π ― A ⊗ π B ) -invariant quantum states are separable if and only if all extremal unital positive ( π B , π A ) -covariant maps are decomposable where π A , π B are unitary representations of a compact group and π A is irreducible. Moreover, an extremal unital positive ( π B , π A ) -covariant map L is decomposable if and only if L is completely positive or completely copositive. We then apply these results to prove that all PPT quantum channels of the form Φ ( ρ ) = a Tr ( ρ ) d Id d + b ρ + c ρ T + ( 1 − a − b − c ) diag ( ρ ) are entanglement-breaking, and that there is no A-BC PPT-entangled ( U ⊗ U ― ⊗ U ) -invariant tripartite quantum state. The former strengthens some conclusions in (Vollbrecht and Werner 2001 Phys. Rev. A 64 062307; Kopszak et al 2020 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 53 395306), and the latter resolves some open questions raised in (Collins et al 2018 Linear Algebra Appl. 5
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 present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.
We analyze bipartite matrices and linear maps between matrix algebras, which are respectively, invariant and covariant, under the diagonal unitary and orthogonal groups' actions. By presenting an expansive list of examples from the literature, which includes notable entries like the Diagonal Symmetric states and the Choi-type maps, we show that this class of matrices (and maps) encompasses a wide variety of scenarios, thereby unifying their study. We examine their linear algebraic structure and investigate different notions of positivity through their convex conic manifestations. In particular, we generalize the well-known cone of completely positive matrices to that of triplewise completely positive matrices and connect it to the separability of the relevant invariant states (or the entanglement breaking property of the corresponding quantum channels). For linear maps, we provide explicit characterizations of the stated covariance in terms of their Kraus, Stinespring, and Choi representations, and systematically analyze the usual properties of positivity, decomposability, complete positivity, and the like. We also describe the invariant subspaces of these maps and use their structure to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for separability of the associated invariant bipartite states.
We present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.
We prove that the composition of two PPT maps through an intermediate qubit system is entanglement breaking. Specifically, for arbitrary finite dimensions m and n, if Φ: Mₘ → M₂ and Ψ: M₂ → Mₙ are completely positive and completely copositive, then Ψ ∘ Φ is entanglement breaking. The proof uses the special 2 × 2 block structure imposed by the qubit intermediate system, Schur-complement inequalities, an operator interpolation argument, and an explicit separability decomposition. As a consequence, no counterexample to the PPT-squared conjecture can occur through the 4 → 2 → 4 composition pattern.
We introduce and study bipartite quantum states that are invariant under the local action of the cyclic sign group. Due to symmetry, these states are sparse and can be parameterized by a triple of vectors. Their important semi-definite properties, such as positivity and positivity under partial transpose (PPT), can be simply characterized in terms of these vectors and their discrete Fourier transforms. We study in detail the entanglement properties of this family of symmetric states, showing that it contains PPT entangled states. For states that are diagonal in the Dicke basis, deciding separability is equivalent to a circulant version of the complete positivity problem. In local dimension d ≤ 5, we completely characterize these sets and construct entanglement witnesses; some partial results are also obtained for d = 6, 7. We construct a new family of states for which the properties of PPT and separability can be characterized for all dimensions, generalizing results from from the literature. Our results show that these states have a rich entanglement structure, even in the bosonic subspace.