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arXiv:2609.22902

Characterizing local unitary equivalence of multipartite states by local unitary Bargmann invariants

Yi Shen, Lin Chen, Shao-Ming Fei

quant-phSubmitted Sep 19, 2026• Announced Sep 22, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Local unitary (LU) equivalent states are crucial for understanding the structure of quantum entanglement. We investigate the LU equivalence based on the LU Bargmann invariants (LUBIs). We consider for which states the LUBIs are sufficient to ensure the LU equivalence. We focus on a class of multipartite states with complete local commutativity, called CLC states. We first show that for multipartite CLC states, all the LUBIs are sufficient to ensure the local permutation equivalence, if their single-party marginals are diagonal and non-degenerate. By virtue of the fact that the CLC property remains unchanged under local operations, we verify that the LUBIs are also sufficient to ensure the LU equivalence of multipartite CLC states whose single-party marginals are non-degenerate. Furthermore, when the single-party marginals are degenerate, we propose concrete examples of two-qudit and three-qubit systems, showing that there are states which share all the LUBIs but are not LU equivalent.

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Local unitary (LU) equivalent states are crucial for understanding the structure of quantum entanglement. We investigate the LU equivalence based on the LU Bargmann invariants (LUBIs). We consider for which states the LUBIs are sufficient to ensure the LU equivalence. We focus on a class of multipartite states with complete local commutativity, called CLC states. We first show that for multipartite CLC states, all the LUBIs are sufficient to ensure the local permutation equivalence, if their single-party marginals are diagonal and non-degenerate. By virtue of the fact that the CLC property remains unchanged under local operations, we verify that the LUBIs are also sufficient to ensure the LU equivalence of multipartite CLC states whose single-party marginals are non-degenerate. Furthermore, when the single-party marginals are degenerate, we propose concrete examples of two-qudit and three-qubit systems, showing that there are states which share all the LUBIs but are not LU equivalent.
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).
The necessary and sufficient conditions for the equivalence of arbitrary nnn-qubit pure quantum states under local unitary (LU) operations derived in [B. Kraus, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 020504 (2010)] are used to determine the different LU-equivalence classes of up to five-qubit states. Due to this classification new parameters characterizing multipartite entanglement are found and their physical interpretation is given. Moreover, the method is used to derive examples of two nnn-qubit states (with n>2n>2n>2 arbitrary) which have the properties that all the entropies of any subsystem coincide; however, the states are neither LU equivalent nor can be mapped into each other by general local operations and classical communication.
In this paper, we provide a characterization of multipartite entanglement in terms of equivalence classes of states under local unitary transformation (LU) by demonstrating a simple method to construct all homogenous polynomials that are invariant under local unitary group(LUIPs) for any fixed degree. We give an upper bound on the degree of the LUIP such that the ring of LUIPs can be generated by LUIPs with degree lower than the bound. Our characterization can directly generate an algorithm whose output is a generating set of LUIPs. By employing the concept of LUIPs, we prove that multipartite entanglement is additive in the sense that two multipartite states are LU equivalent if and only if nnn-copies of these two states are LU equivalent for some nnn. The method for studying LU equivalence is also used to classify the different types of multipartite mixed entanglement according to equivalence classes of states under stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC), where the pure states case was previously studied by Gour and Wallach using another approach.
Local operations assisted by classical communication (LOCC) play a fundamental role in the resource-theoretic formulation of entanglement theory inducing an operationally meaningful ordering in the set of entangled states. The particular class within LOCC of local unitary (LU) transformations is obviously closed under inversion. Thus, LU-equivalent states are interconvertible by LOCC and have therefore the same entanglement. For this reason LU-equivalence has been thoroughly studied in the context of entanglement theory. However, as I note here with a simple example, the converse is not true: there exist entangled states that are interconvertible by LOCC but which are not LU-equivalent. This motivates studying under which conditions LOCC interconvertibility is characterized by LU-equivalence. I provide a sufficient condition for this to hold. When one considers multipartite states with full entanglement dimensionality (as quantified by the Schmidt number vector) LOCC interconvertibility can only hold under LU-equivalence.
Abstract Classification of multipartite pure states via the local unitary (LU) equivalence or the stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC) equivalence is a fundamental task in investigating multipartite entanglement. It is shown in the seminal paper (2000 Phys . Rev . A 62 062314) that pure states of three qubits can be partitioned into six SLOCC classes. We explore here a necessary and sufficient condition for LU equivalence of pure states for any SLOCC class via Acín et al ’s Schmidt coefficients (ASC) of three qubits in (2000 Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 1560). We show that the LU equivalent states in W SLOCC class have the same ASC irrespective of phases while there are generally two different ASCs for the LU equivalent states in GHZ SLOCC class (irrespective of phases for some subclass). Consequently, we obtain a complete LU classification of three qubit pure states in the sense of ASC. Moreover, we discuss the choice among the different ASCs and then propose an approach to find a unique ASC for any given three qubit pure state. At last we analyse the entanglement/separability of the marginal states of the two inequivalent genuine entangled SLOCC classes. We find that any bipartite marginal states of the W SLOCC class are entangled, and that of the GHZ SLOCC class has eight different cases which are depend on the ASCs.