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arXiv:2601.20922

The quantum sky of Majorana stars

L. L. Sanchez-Soto, A. B. Klimov, A. Z. Goldberg, G. Leuchs

quant-phSubmitted Jan 28, 2026• Announced Jan 30, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Majorana stars, the $2S$ spin coherent states that are orthogonal to a spin-$S$ state, offer an elegant method to visualize quantum states. This representation offers deep insights into the structure, symmetries, and entanglement properties of quantum states, bridging abstract algebraic formulations with intuitive geometrical intuition. In this paper, we briefly survey the development and applications of the Majorana constellation, exploring its relevance in modern areas of quantum information.

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Majorana stars, the 2S2S2S spin coherent states that are orthogonal to a spin-SSS state, offer an elegant method to visualize quantum states. This representation offers deep insights into the structure, symmetries, and entanglement properties of quantum states, bridging abstract algebraic formulations with intuitive geometrical intuition. In this paper, we briefly survey the development and applications of the Majorana constellation, exploring its relevance in modern areas of quantum information.
Majorana stars, the 2S spin coherent states that are orthogonal to a spin- S state, offer an elegant method to visualize quantum states, disclosing their intrinsic symmetries. These states are naturally described by the corresponding multipoles. These quantities can be experimentally determined and allow for an SU(2)-invariant analysis. We investigate the relationship between Majorana constellations and state multipoles, thus providing insights into the underlying symmetries of the system. We illustrate our approach with some relevant and informative examples. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Abstract By representing a quantum state and its evolution with the Majorana stars on the Bloch sphere, the Majorana representation provides us an intuitive way to study a physical system with SU(2) symmetry. In this work, based on coherent states, we propose a method to establish the generalization of Majorana representation for a general symmetry. By choosing a generalized coherent state as a reference state, we give a more general Majorana representation for both finite and infinite systems and the corresponding star equations are given. Using this method, we study the squeezed vacuum states for three different symmetries, Heisenberg–Weyl, SU(2) and SU(1,1), and express the effect of squeezing parameter on the distribution of stars. Furthermore, we also study the dynamical evolution of stars for an initial coherent state driven by a nonlinear Hamiltonian, and find that at a special time point, the stars are distributed on two orthogonal large circles.
The Majorana stellar representation maps a pure spin-SSS state to 2S2S2S points on a sphere. This review develops it with entanglement as the organising principle, and two objects recur throughout: the constellation, and the permanent of the Gram matrix of its stars. The degeneracy pattern of the constellation is invariant under stochastic local operations and classical communication, so the integer partitions of NNN label a finite set of families of symmetric NNN-qubit states. That labelling is a coarse-graining rather than a classification, since from four distinct stars onwards each family carries continuous Möbius moduli. The permanent supplies what the pattern omits. Normalised by it, inter-star chordal distances give the concurrence and the three-tangle in closed form, and the same permanent governs the anomalous contribution to the Berry phase acquired under adiabatic cyclic evolution, so that a single quantity links static correlations to dynamical holonomy. We also fix the computational reach of the geometry. Overlaps of symmetric states are permanents of matrices of rank at most two and are polynomially computable, whereas measures defined by an optimisation over the sphere are not reached by that argument. Interest in stellar representations has resurged, but the literature remains dispersed, and no existing treatment develops the link between constellation geometry, multipartite entanglement, and geometric phases within a single framework. The same two objects organise the applications reviewed here, from extremal states in metrology and permutation-invariant codes to collective spin models and photonic constellations, together with extensions to mixed states and to continuous-variable systems through the stellar rank. Whether the anomalous phase admits a bound in terms of any entanglement monotone remains open.
Majorana stars, the 2j2j2j spin coherent states that are orthogonal to a spin-jjj state, offer a visualization of general quantum states and may disclose deep structures in quantum states and their evolutions. In particular, the genuine tripartite entanglement---the three-tangle of a symmetric three-qubit state, which can be mapped to a spin-3/2 state---is measured by the normalized product of the distance between the Majorana stars. However, the Majorana representation cannot be applied to general nonsymmetric nnn-qubit states. We show that, after a series of SL(2,C)\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})SL(2,C) transformations, nonsymmetric three-qubit states can be transformed to symmetric three-qubit states, while at the same time the three-tangle is unchanged. Thus the genuine tripartite entanglement of general three-qubit states has the geometric representation of the associated Majorana stars. The symmetrization and hence the Majorana star representation of certain genuine high-order entanglement for more qubits are possible for some special states. In general cases, however, the constraints on the symmetrization may prevent the Majorana star representation of the genuine entanglement.
Abstract Majorana stars, the antipodal directions associated with the coherent states that are orthogonal to a spin state, provide a visualization and a geometric understanding of the structures of general quantum states. For example, the Berry phase of a spin-1/2 is given by half the solid angle enclosed by the close path of its Majorana star. It is conceivable that the Berry phase of higher spins may also be related to the geometry of the Majorana constellation. We find that for a spin-1 state, besides the expected contributions from the solid angles enclosed by the close paths of the two Majorana stars, the Berry phase includes a term related to the twist of the relative position vector around the barycenter vector of the two Majorana stars, i.e., the self-rotation of the constellation. Interestingly, if the spin-1 state is taken as a symmetrized two-qubit state, the extra contribution to the Berry phase is given by the self-rotation of the Majorana constellation weighted by the quantum entanglement of the two qubits. This discovery alludes to the relevance of the Majorana stellar geometry in representing the deep structures of quantum states and of quantum entanglement.
By describing the evolution of a quantum state with the trajectories of the Majorana stars on a Bloch sphere, Majorana’s stellar representation provides an intuitive geometric perspective to comprehend the quantum system with high-dimensional Hilbert space. However, the representation of a two-spin coupling system on a Bloch sphere has not been solved satisfactorily yet. Here, a practical method is presented to resolve the problem for the mixed-spin ( s , 1/2) system and describe the entanglement of the system. The system can be decomposed into two spins: spin-( s + 1/2) and spin-( s – 1/2) at the coupling bases, which can be regarded as independent spins. Besides, any pure state may be written as a superposition of two orthonormal states with one spin-( s + 1/2) state and the other spin-( s – 1/2) state. Thus, the whole initial state can be regarded as a state of a pseudo spin-1/2. In this way, the mixed spin decomposes into three spins. Therefore, the state can be represented by (2 s + 1) + (2 s – 1) + 1 = 4 s + 1 sets of stars on a Bloch sphere. Finally, some examples are given to show symmetric patterns on the Bloch sphere and unveil the properties of the high-spin system by analyzing the trajectories of the Majorana stars on the Bloch sphere.