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arXiv:2603.24902

The Pareto Frontiers of Magic and Entanglement: The Case of Two Qubits

Alexander Roman, Marco Knipfer, Jogi Suda Neto, Konstantin T. Matchev, Katia Matcheva, Sergei Gleyzer

quant-phcs.EThep-lathep-phhep-thSubmitted Mar 26, 2026• Announced Mar 27, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Magic and entanglement are two measures that are widely used to characterize quantum resources. We study the interplay between magic and entanglement in two-qubit systems, focusing on the two extremes: maximal magic and minimal magic for a given level of entanglement. We quantify magic by the Rényi entropy of order 2, $M_2$, and entanglement by the concurrence $Δ$. We find that the Pareto frontier of maximal magic $M_2^{(max)}(Δ)$ is composed of three separate segments, while the boundary of minimal magic $M_2^{(min)}(Δ)$ is a single continuous line. We derive simple analytical formulas for all these four cases, and explicitly parametrize all distinct quantum states of maximal or minimal magic at a given level of entanglement.

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34 pages, 8 figures

Related papers

Analytical Landscape of Maximal Magic for Two-Qutrit States and Beyond

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The relative entropy of magic and its nonadditivity

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In most stabilizer-based quantum computing schemes, so-called magic states are a necessary resource for implementing non-transversal quantum gates. With the resource theory of magic, it is possible to analyze and quantify the generation of the non-stabilizer states. The relative entropy is a measure used in various resource theories. For single qubits, we characterize magic states and their closest stabilizer states by applying analytical results known from the relative entropy of entanglement and show that the magic states and their closest stabilizer states are arranged symmetrically around the states at the centers of the faces of the stabilizer octahedron. For tensor products of single-qubit states, we prove analytically that the relative entropy of magic is nonadditive in almost all cases.

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Magic and entanglement are two measures that are widely used to characterize quantum resources. We study the interplay between magic and entanglement in two-qubit systems, focusing on the two extremes: maximal magic and minimal magic for a given level of entanglement. We quantify magic by the Rényi entropy of order 2, M2M_2M2​, and entanglement by the concurrence ΔΔΔ. We find that the Pareto frontier of maximal magic M2(max)(Δ)M_2^{(max)}(Δ)M2(max)​(Δ) is composed of three separate segments, while the boundary of minimal magic M2(min)(Δ)M_2^{(min)}(Δ)M2(min)​(Δ) is a single continuous line. We derive simple analytical formulas for all these four cases, and explicitly parametrize all distinct quantum states of maximal or minimal magic at a given level of entanglement.
Achieving a genuine quantum advantage relies on two distinct non-classical resources that restrict efficient classical simulation: entanglement and magic (nonstabilizerness). We investigate the interplay between these resources by characterizing the Pareto frontiers of extreme magic at fixed entanglement for systems of two qutrits (d=3d=3d=3) and two ququints (d=5d=5d=5). Unlike the case of two qubits, the Schmidt spectrum for two qutrits features two independent entanglement parameters, resulting in two-dimensional Pareto surfaces. For the lower frontier, we recast the minimal magic as a compact function of concurrence and negativity, with a maximal value of ln⁡2\ln 2ln2. For the upper frontier, we determine the maximal stabilizer Rényi entropy to be M2=ln⁡(81/17)≈1.561M_2 = \ln(81/17) \approx 1.561M2​=ln(81/17)≈1.561, which tightens the previous theoretical bound of ln⁡5≈1.609\ln 5\approx 1.609ln5≈1.609 and improves on earlier numerical estimates. The maximum magic is achieved at eighteen distinct maxima categorized into three families of six permutation-equivalent spectra. We provide analytical expressions for the maximal magic in the neighborhood of each maximum and for the corresponding maximally magical states which turn out to be Weyl-Heisenberg-covariant fiducial states for mutually unbiased bases. Finally, numerical analysis of two ququints (d=5d=5d=5) reveals six permutation-inequivalent maxima with a peak magic value of M2=ln⁡(625/49)≈2.546M_2 = \ln(625/49) \approx 2.546M2​=ln(625/49)≈2.546. Based on these findings, we conjecture that the maximal magic for a bipartite system of two qudits with prime dimension ddd is given by ln⁡[d4/(2d2−1)]\ln [ d^4 / (2d^2 - 1) ]ln[d4/(2d2−1)], which reproduces the previously known value for qubits, as well as the values derived here for qutrits and ququints.
Abstract Magic is a quantum resource essential for universal quantum computation and represents the deviation of quantum states from those that can be simulated efficiently using classical algorithms. Using the stabilizer Rényi entropy (SRE), we investigate two-qubit states with maximal magic, which are most distinct from classical simulability, and provide strong numerical evidence that the maximal second order SRE is ln ⁡ ( 16 / 7 ) ≈ 0.827 , establishing a tighter bound than the prior ln ⁡ ( 5 / 2 ) ≈ 0.916 . We identify 480 states saturating the new bound, which turn out to be the fiducial states for the mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) generated by the orbits of the Weyl–Heisenberg (WH) group, and conjecture that WH-MUBs are the maximal magic states for n -qubit, when n ≠ 1 and 3. We also reveal a striking interplay between magic and entanglement: the entanglement of maximal magic states is restricted to two possible values, 1 / 2 and 1 / 2 , as quantified by the concurrence; none is maximally entangled.
We introduce a novel measure for the quantum property commonly known as magicmagicmagic by considering the Renyi entropy of the probability distribution associated to a pure quantum state given by the square of the expectation value of Pauli strings in that state. We show that this is a good measure of magic from the point of view of resource theory and show bounds with other known measures of magic. The Renyi entropy of magic has the advantage of being easily computable because it does not need a minimization procedure. We define the magic power of a unitary operator as the average entropy of magic attainable by the action of this operator on the magic-free states, that is, stabilizer states, and show the basic properties of this quantity. As an application, we show that the magic power is intimately connected to out-of-time-order correlation functions and that maximal levels of magic are necessary for quantum chaos.
Abstract Magic, a key quantum resource beyond entanglement, remains poorly understood in terms of its structure and classification. In this paper, we demonstrate a striking connection between high-dimensional symmetric lattices and quantum magic states. By mapping vectors from the E8,BW16E_8, B W_{16}E8​,BW16​, and E6E_6E6​ lattices into Hilbert space, we construct and classify stabiliser and maximal magic states for two-qubit, three-qubit and one-qutrit systems. In particular, this geometric approach allows us to construct, for the first time, closed-form expressions for the maximal magic states in the three-qubit and one-qutrit systems, and to conjecture their total counts. In the three-qubit case, we further classify the extremal magic states according to their entanglement structure. We also examine the distinctive behaviour of one-qutrit maximal magic states with respect to Clifford orbits. Our findings suggest that deep algebraic and geometric symmetries underlie the structure of extremal magic states.
Magic (nonstabilizerness) is a necessary but "expensive" kind of "fuel" to drive universal fault-tolerant quantum computation.To properly study and characterize the origin of quantum "complexity" in computation as well as physics, it is crucial to develop a rigorous understanding of the quantification of magic.Previous studies of magic mostly focused on small systems and largely relied on the discrete Wigner formalism (which is only well behaved in odd prime power dimensions).Here we present an initiatory study of the magic of genuinely many-body quantum states that may be strongly entangled, with focus on the important case of many qubits, at a quantitative level.We first address the basic question of how "magical" a many-body state can be, and show that the maximum magic of an n-qubit state is essentially n, simultaneously for a range of "good" magic measures.As a corollary, the resource theory of magic has asymptotic golden currency states.We then show that, in fact, almost all n-qubit pure states have magic of nearly n.In the quest for explicit, scalable cases of highly entangled states whose magic can be understood, we connect the magic of hypergraph states with the second-order nonlinearity of their underlying Boolean functions.Next, we go on and investigate many-body magic in practical and physical contexts.We first consider a variant of measurement-based quantum computation where the client is restricted to Pauli measurements, in which magic is a necessary feature of the initial "resource" state.We show that n-qubit states with nearly n magic, or indeed almost all states, cannot supply nontrivial speedups over classical computers.We then present an example of analyzing the magic of "natural" condensed matter systems of physical interest.We apply the Boolean function techniques to derive explicit bounds on the magic of certain representative two-dimensional symmetry-protected topological states, and comment on possible further connections between magic and the quantum complexity of phases of matter.
In most stabilizer-based quantum computing schemes, so-called magic states are a necessary resource for implementing non-transversal quantum gates. With the resource theory of magic, it is possible to analyze and quantify the generation of the non-stabilizer states. The relative entropy is a measure used in various resource theories. For single qubits, we characterize magic states and their closest stabilizer states by applying analytical results known from the relative entropy of entanglement and show that the magic states and their closest stabilizer states are arranged symmetrically around the states at the centers of the faces of the stabilizer octahedron. For tensor products of single-qubit states, we prove analytically that the relative entropy of magic is nonadditive in almost all cases.