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arXiv:2401.07299

Embezzlement of entanglement, quantum fields, and the classification of von Neumann algebras

Lauritz van Luijk, Alexander Stottmeister, Reinhard F. Werner, Henrik Wilming

Published Jan 14, 2024• 1 citation
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Abstract

We study the quantum information theoretic task of embezzlement of entanglement in the setting of von Neumann algebras. Given a shared entangled resource state, this task asks to produce arbitrary entangled states using local operations without communication while perturbing the resource arbitrarily little. We quantify the performance of a given resource state by the worst-case error. States for which the latter vanishes are 'embezzling states' as they allow to embezzle arbitrary entangled states with arbitrarily small error. The best and worst performance among all states defines two algebraic invariants for von Neumann algebras. The first invariant takes only two values. Either it vanishes and embezzling states exist, which can only happen in type III, or no state allows for nontrivial embezzlement. In the case of factors not of finite type I, the second invariant equals the diameter of the state space. This provides a quantitative operational interpretation of Connes' classification of type III factors within quantum information theory. Type III$_1$ factors are 'universal embezzlers' where every state is embezzling. Our findings have implications for relativistic quantum field theory, where type III algebras naturally appear. For instance, they explain the maximal violation of Bell inequalities in the vacuum. Our results follow from a one-to-one correspondence between embezzling states and invariant probability measures on the flow of weights. We also establish that universally embezzling ITPFI factors are of type III$_1$ by elementary arguments.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2401.07299

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We study the quantum information theoretic task of embezzlement of entanglement in the setting of von Neumann algebras. Given a shared entangled resource state, this task asks to produce arbitrary entangled states using local operations without communication while perturbing the resource arbitrarily little. We quantify the performance of a given resource state by the worst-case error. States for which the latter vanishes are 'embezzling states' as they allow to embezzle arbitrary entangled states with arbitrarily small error. The best and worst performance among all states defines two algebraic invariants for von Neumann algebras. The first invariant takes only two values. Either it vanishes and embezzling states exist, which can only happen in type III, or no state allows for nontrivial embezzlement. In the case of factors not of finite type I, the second invariant equals the diameter of the state space. This provides a quantitative operational interpretation of Connes' classification of type III factors within quantum information theory. Type III1_11​ factors are 'universal embezzlers' where every state is embezzling. Our findings have implications for relativistic quantum field theory, where type III algebras naturally appear. For instance, they explain the maximal violation of Bell inequalities in the vacuum. Our results follow from a one-to-one correspondence between embezzling states and invariant probability measures on the flow of weights. We also establish that universally embezzling ITPFI factors are of type III1_11​ by elementary arguments.
Embezzlement of entanglement refers to the task of extracting entanglement from an entanglement resource via local operations and without communication while perturbing the resource arbitrarily little. Recently, the existence of embezzling states of bipartite systems of type III von Neumann algebras was shown. However, both the multipartite case and the precise relation between embezzling states and the notion of embezzling families, as originally defined by van Dam and Hayden, was left open. Here, we show that finite-dimensional approximations of multipartite embezzling states form multipartite embezzling families. In contrast, not every embezzling family converges to an embezzling state. We identify an additional consistency condition that ensures that an embezzling family converges to an embezzling state. This criterion distinguishes the embezzling family of van Dam and Hayden from the one by Leung, Toner, and Watrous. The latter generalizes to the multipartite setting. By taking a limit, we obtain a multipartite system of commuting type III 1 factors on which every state is an embezzling state. We discuss our results in the context of quantum field theory and quantum many-body physics. As open problems, we ask whether vacua of relativistic quantum fields in more than two spacetime dimensions are multipartite embezzling states and whether multipartite embezzlement allows for an operator-algebraic characterization.
In quantum systems with infinitely many degrees of freedom, states can be infinitely entangled across a pair of subsystems. But are there different forms of infinite entanglement? To answer this, we provide a rigorous framework for studying information-theoretic properties in infinite systems, formulated in terms of von Neumann algebras. In this framework, we show that there are operational tasks that can distinguish between different forms of infinite entanglement. We find that the type classification of von Neumann algebras (types I, II, III, and their respective subtypes) is in one-to-one correspondence with operational entanglement properties. For instance, the Connes classification of type III factors corresponds to the system’s capability at the operational task of “embezzling” entanglement. Our findings promote the type classification from algebraic bookkeeping to a classification of infinite quantum systems based on their operational entanglement properties.
Embezzlement of entanglement refers to the counterintuitive possibility of extracting entangled quantum states from a reference state of an auxiliary system (the "embezzler") via local quantum operations while hardly perturbing the latter. We uncover a deep connection between the operational task of embezzling entanglement and the mathematical classification of von Neumann algebras. Our result implies that relativistic quantum fields are universal embezzlers: any entangled state of any dimension can be embezzled from them with arbitrary precision. This provides an operational characterization of the infinite amount of entanglement present in the vacuum state of relativistic quantum field theories.
Embezzlement of entanglement allows to extract arbitrary entangled states from a suitable embezzling state using only local operations while perturbing the resource state arbitrarily little. A natural family of embezzling states is given by ground states of non-interacting, critical fermions in one spatial dimension. This raises the question of whether the embezzlement operations can be restricted to Gaussian operations whenever one only wishes to extract Gaussian entangled states. We show that this is indeed the case and prove that the embezzling property is in fact a generic property of fermionic Gaussian states. Our results provide a fine-grained understanding of embezzlement of entanglement for fermionic Gaussian states in the finite-size regime and thereby bridge finite-size systems to abstract characterizations based on the classification of von Neumann algebras. To prove our results, we establish novel bounds relating the distance of covariances to the trace-distance of Gaussian states, which may be of independent interest.
Abstract We develop the theory of local operations and classical communication (LOCC) for bipartite quantum systems represented by commuting von Neumann algebras. Our central result is the extension of Nielsen’s Theorem, stating that the LOCC ordering of bipartite pure states is equivalent to the majorization of their restrictions to arbitrary factors. As a consequence, we find that in bipartite system modeled by commuting factors in Haag duality, (a) all states have infinite single-shot entanglement if and only if the local factors are not of type I, (b) type III factors are characterized by LOCC transitions of arbitrary precision between any two pure states, and c) the latter holds even without classical communication for type III1\hbox {III}_{1}III1​ III 1 factors. In the case of semifinite factors, the usual construction of pure state entanglement monotones carries over. Together with recent work on embezzlement of entanglement, this gives a one-to-one correspondence between the classification of factors into types and subtypes and operational entanglement properties. In the appendix, we provide a self-contained treatment of majorization on semifinite von Neumann algebras and σ\sigma σ σ -finite measure spaces.
We consider bipartite exact entanglement embezzlement with a catalyst state vector ψψψ in a Hilbert space H\mathcal{H}H using unitaries (or more generally, contractions). If M⊆B(H)\mathcal{M} \subseteq \mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})M⊆B(H) is a von Neumann algebra and U∈Md⊗MU \in M_d \otimes \mathcal{M}U∈Md​⊗M and V∈M′⊗MdV \in \mathcal{M}' \otimes M_dV∈M′⊗Md​ are unitaries (or more generally contractions), then such a protocol is of the form (U⊗Id)(Id⊗V)(e0⊗ψ⊗e0)=∑i=0d−1αiei⊗ψ⊗ei(U \otimes I_d)(I_d \otimes V)(e_0 \otimes ψ\otimes e_0)=\sum_{i=0}^{d-1} α_i e_i \otimes ψ\otimes e_i(U⊗Id​)(Id​⊗V)(e0​⊗ψ⊗e0​)=∑i=0d−1​αi​ei​⊗ψ⊗ei​, where each αi>0α_i>0αi​>0 and ∑i=0d−1αi2=1\sum_{i=0}^{d-1} α_i^2=1∑i=0d−1​αi2​=1. We show that any such protocol must arise from a unique state on the tensor product Od⊗Od\mathcal{O}_d \otimes \mathcal{O}_dOd​⊗Od​ of the Cuntz algebra with itself. As a result, we prove that exact entanglement embezzlement is a self-test for a collection of ddd Cuntz isometries for each party and a unique quasi-free state on the Cuntz algebra Od\mathcal{O}_dOd​ in the sense of \cite{Iz93}. Moreover, we use modular theory to show that the von Neumann algebra generated by the copy of Od\mathcal{O}_dOd​ is the unique separable approximately finite-dimensional Type IIIλ\text{III}_λIIIλ​ factor for some 0<λ≤10<λ\leq 10<λ≤1, where λλλ can be determined by an algebraic condition on the Schmidt coefficients of the state φ=∑i=0d−1αiei⊗ei\varphi=\sum_{i=0}^{d-1} α_i e_i \otimes e_iφ=∑i=0d−1​αi​ei​⊗ei​.