Research on quantum states often focuses on the correlation between nonlocal effects and local unitary invariants, among which local unitary equivalence plays a significant role in quantum state classification and resource theories. This paper focuses on the local unitary equivalence of multipartite quantum states in quantum information theory, aiming to determine a complete set of invariants that identify their local unitary orbits; these invariants are crucial for deriving polynomial invariants and describing the physical properties preserved under local unitary transformations. The study deeply explores the characterization of local unitary equivalence and the method of detecting entanglement using local unitary Bargmann invariants. Taking two-qubit systems as an example, it verifies the measurability of invariants that determine equivalence and establishes a connection between Makhlin fundamental invariants (a complete set of 18 local unitary invariants for two-qubit states) and local unitary Bargmann invariants. These Bargmann invariants, related to the traces of products of density operators and marginal states, can be measured through cycle tests (an extended form of swap tests).
Quantum sensor networks promise precision advantages over classical and single-sensor strategies, in particular when the estimator is non-local. We address the problem of finding such estimators through a framework we connote spatial quantum sensing: given an underlying field interrogated by a network of quantum sensors at fixed positions, construct an estimator for a property of the field, for example, distinguishing a source of signal, or evaluating the field or its derivatives at an arbitrary point. We first treat polynomial fields, casting the task as an interpolation problem, and then generalize to fields modeled by analytic functions, which yields general least-squares estimators. A central and largely unaddressed question is under what conditions on sensor placement these estimators are well-defined and error-free. For
m-dimensional arrays we give explicit constructions and proofs in the interpolation setting using algebraic geometry, and establish necessary and sufficient conditions in the general case. Comparing a non-local entangled protocol with the best local strategy, we show that entanglement yields maximal precision in distributed sensing under global resource constraints. Finally, we introduce error-free subspaces, a technique that translates prior knowledge of the field into a reduction in the number of required sensors. We expect these techniques to be broadly useful in sensing problems across scales, ranging from earth-scale experiments to local applications such as biological imaging.
Self-testing refers to the certification of quantum states and measurements based entirely on the correlations exhibited by measurements on separate subsystems. In the bipartite case, self-testing of states has been completely characterized, up to local isometries, as there exist protocols that self-test arbitrary pure states of any local dimension. Much less is known in the multipartite case, where an important difference with respect to the bipartite case appears: there exist multipartite states that are not equivalent, up to local isometries, to their complex conjugate. Thus, any self-testing characterization must in general be complete up to not only local unitaries, but also complex conjugation. Under these premises, in this work, we give a complete characterization of self-testing in the multipartite qubit case.
Despite multipartite entanglement being a global property of a quantum state, a number of recent works have made it clear that it can be quantified using only local measurements. This is appealing because local measurements are the easiest to implement on current quantum hardware. However, it remains an open question what protocol one should use in order to minimize the resources required to estimate multipartite entanglement from local measurements alone. In this work, we construct and compare several estimators of multipartite entanglement based solely on the data from local measurements. We first construct statistical estimators for a broad family of entanglement measures using local randomized measurement (LRM) data before providing a general criterion for the construction of such estimators in terms of projective 2-designs. Importantly, this allows us to derandomize the multipartite estimation protocol based on LRMs. In particular, we show how local symmetric, informationally complete positive operator-valued measures enable multipartite entanglement quantification with only a single measurement setting. For all estimators, we provide both the classical postprocessing cost and rigorous performance guarantees in the form of analytical upper bounds on the number of measurements needed to estimate the measures to any desired precision.
Multipartite entanglement is an essential resource for quantum communication, quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum networks. The utility of a quantum state |ψ⟩ for these applications is often directly related to the degree or type of entanglement present in |ψ⟩. Therefore, efficiently quantifying and characterizing multipartite entanglement is of paramount importance. In this work, we introduce a family of multipartite entanglement measures, called concentratable entanglements. Several well-known entanglement measures are recovered as special cases of our family of measures, and hence we provide a general framework for quantifying multipartite entanglement. We prove that the entire family does not increase, on average, under local operations and classical communications. We also provide an operational meaning for these measures in terms of probabilistic concentration of entanglement into Bell pairs. Finally, we show that these quantities can be efficiently estimated on a quantum computer by implementing a parallelized SWAP test, opening up a research direction for measuring multipartite entanglement on quantum devices.
Analyzing the nonclassicality of correlations generated in
n-local quantum networks is an important branch of study in quantum information theory. Speaking of nonclassicality, violation of an
n-local inequality ensures non
n-locality of corresponding network correlations. Being correlation-based, violation of any such inequality is experimentally feasible. The present work explores whether applying suitable local unitary operations can aid violation of any
n-local inequality. Observations have ensured the utility of local unitary operations in enhancing the detection efficiency of bilocal inequality and
n-local inequality (for
n=3,4) in the star configuration. In an
n-local quantum network, such operations correspond to local basis change applied by at least one party over its joint state of qubits received from the sources. In an
n-local network, with all the parties performing any possible local unitary operation, correlations not violating an
n-local inequality (compatible with the network considered), are first characterized. Such characterization is then exploited to provide examples of local unitary operations aiding violation of existing
n-local inequalities for
n=2, 3, and 4, specifically. Interestingly, there exist two qubit unitary operations, for which nontrilocal correlations can be simulated even when one of the sources distribute pure product state in star network. Quantum gates associated with the useful unitary operations are provided.