Separability of Quantum States vs. Original Bell (1964) Inequalities

Elena R. Loubenets

In contrast to the widespread opinion that any separable quantum state satisfies every classical probabilistic constraint, we present a simple example where separable quantum state does not satisfy the original Bell inequality although the latter inequality, in its perfect correlation form, is valid for all joint classical measurements. In a very general setting, we discuss inequalities for joint experiments upon a bipartite quantum system. For any separable quantum state, we derive quantum analogs of the original Bell inequality and specify the conditions sufficient for a separable state to satisfy the original Bell inequality. We introduce the extended Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality and prove that, for any separable quantum state, this inequality holds for a variety of linear combinations.

H. E. Andås

Elena R. Loubenets

We introduce a general condition sufficient for the validity of the original Bell inequality (1964) in a local hidden variable (LHV) frame. This condition can be checked experimentally and incorporates only as a particular case the assumption on perfect correlations or anticorrelations usually argued for this inequality in the literature. Specifying this general condition for a quantum bipartite case, we introduce the whole class of bipartite quantum states, separable and nonseparable, that (i) admit an LHV description under any bipartite measurements with two settings per site; (ii) do not necessarily exhibit perfect correlations and may even have a negative correlation function if the same quantum observable is measured at both sites, but (iii) satisfy the ‘perfect correlation’ version of the original Bell inequality for any three bounded quantum observables A 1 , A 2 = B 1 , B 2 at sites ‘ A ’ and ‘ B ’, respectively. Analysing the validity of this general LHV condition under classical and quantum correlation scenarios with the same physical context, we stress that, unlike the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt inequality, the original Bell inequality distinguishes between classicality and quantum separability.

Willy De Baere

Reinhard F. Werner

Elena R. Loubenets

In a general setting, we introduce a new bipartite state property sufficient for the validity of the perfect correlation form of the original Bell inequality for any three bounded quantum observables. A bipartite quantum state with this property does not necessarily exhibit perfect correlations. The class of bipartite states specified by this property includes both separable and nonseparable states. We prove analytically that, for any dimension d ⩾ 3, every Werner state, separable or nonseparable, belongs to this class.