THE MIXED STATE

Peter Mittelstaedt

Ming‐Liang Hu, Xiao-Qiang Xi

The mixedness of the N -qubit quantum states with exchange symmetry has been studied, and the results show that the linear entropy of the single qubit reduced density matrix (RDM), which can describe the mixedness, is completely determined by the expectation values ( S z ) and ( S ± ) for both the pure and the mixed states. The mixedness of the pure states can be used to describe the bipartite entanglement, as an example we have calculated the mixedness of the Dicke state and the spin squeezed Kitagawa–Ueda state. For the mixed states, we determine the mixedness properties of both the ground states and the thermal states in mean-field clusters of spin-1/2 particles interacting via the anisotropy Heisenberg XXZ interaction, and found for the ferromagnetic case ( J < 0), the mixedness will approximate to the pairwise entanglement when the anisotropic parameter Δ > Δ c .

K. G. Paulson, S. V. M. Satyanarayana

Entanglement and mixedness of a bipartite mixed state resource are crucial for the success of quantum teleportation. Upper bounds on measures of mixedness, namely, von Neumann entropy and linear entropy beyond which the bipartite state ceases to be useful for quantum teleportation are known in the literature. In this work, we generalize these bounds and obtain rank dependent upper bounds on von Nuemann entropy and linear entropy for an arbitrary bipartite mixed state resource. We observe that the upper bounds on measures of mixedness increase with increase in the rank. For two qubit mixed states, we obtain rank dependent lower bound on the concurrence, a measure of entanglement, below which the state is useless for quantum teleportation. Werner state, which is a fourth rank state, exhibits the theoretical upper bound on mixedness among two qubit mixed states. We construct Werner like states of lower ranks and show that these states possess the theoretical rank dependent upper bounds obtained on the measures of mixedness and theoretical rank dependent lower bounds on the concurrence.

Harold J. Metcalf, P. van der Straten

Tzu-Chieh Wei, Kae Nemoto, Paul M. Goldbart +3 more

Maximally entangled mixed states are those states that, for a given mixedness, achieve the greatest possible entanglement. For two-qubit systems and for various combinations of entanglement and mixedness measures, the form of the corresponding maximally entangled mixed states is determined primarily analytically. As measures of entanglement, we consider entanglement of formation, relative entropy of entanglement, and negativity; as measures of mixedness, we consider linear and von Neumann entropies. We show that the forms of the maximally entangled mixed states can vary with the combination of (entanglement and mixedness) measures chosen. Moreover, for certain combinations, the forms of the maximally entangled mixed states can change discontinuously at a specific value of the entropy. Along the way, we determine the states that, for a given value of entropy, achieve maximal violation of Bell's inequality.

Albert Szent‐Györgyi, Jane A. McLaughlin