We consider the question of perfect local distinguishability of mutually orthogonal bipartite quantum states, with the property that every state can be specified by a unitary operator acting on the local Hilbert space of Bob. We show that if the states can be exactly discriminated by one-way local operations and classical communication (LOCC) where Alice goes first, then the unitary operators can also be perfectly distinguished by an orthogonal measurement on Bob's Hilbert space. We give examples of sets of N ⩽ d maximally entangled states in d ⊗ d for d = 4,5,6 that are not perfectly distinguishable by one-way LOCC. Interestingly, for d = 5,6, our examples consist of four and five states, respectively. We conjecture that these states cannot be perfectly discriminated by two-way LOCC.
We analyze the difference in the local distinguishability among the following three restrictions: (i) local operations and only one-way classical communications (one-way LOCC) are permitted; (ii) local operations and two-way classical communications (two-way LOCC) are permitted; and (iii) all separable operations are permitted. We obtain two main results concerning the discrimination between a given bipartite pure state and the completely mixed state with the condition that the given state should be detected perfectly. As the first result, we derive the optimal discrimination protocol for a bipartite pure state in cases (i) and (iii). As the second result, by constructing a concrete two-way local discrimination protocol, it is proven that case (ii) is much better than case (i), i.e. two-way classical communication remarkably improves the local distinguishability in comparison with one-way classical communication at least for a low-dimensional bipartite pure state.
One-way local operations and classical communication (LOCC) can fail to distinguish four orthogonal maximally entangled states in every local dimension
d≥4. We show that every set of
k pairwise orthogonal maximally entangled states in
Cd⊗Cd is perfectly distinguishable by an
A→B→A protocol whenever
d≥Ck4[log(2k)]ν, for universal constants
C,ν>0. A single feedback message therefore raises the number of candidates that can always be distinguished from a constant to
Ω(d1/4/(logd)ν/4), establishing a polynomial separation between one-way and two-way LOCC. In our protocol, Alice preserves exact orthogonality while reducing overlaps between Bob's conditional subspaces. Bob reduces the candidates to a singleton or an orthogonal pair and refines his outcome so that Alice can complete the discrimination. As a corollary, nine copies suffice for perfect two-way LOCC discrimination of any orthogonal maximally entangled set in all sufficiently large local dimensions.
In the topic of perfect local distinguishability of orthogonal multipartite quantum states, most results obtained so far pertain to bipartite systems whose subsystems are of specific dimensions. In contrast very few results for bipartite systems whose subsystems are of arbitrary dimensions, are known. This is because a rich variety of (algebraic or geometric) structure is exhibited by different sets of orthogonal states owing to which it is difficult to associate some common property underlying them all, i.e., a common property that would play a crucial role in the local distinguishability of these states. In this Rapid Communication, I propose a framework for the distinguishability by one-way local operations and classical communication (1-LOCC) of sets of orthogonal bipartite states in a ${d}_{A}\ensuremath{\bigotimes}{d}_{B}$ bipartite system, where
dA,dB are the dimensions of both subsytems, labeled as
A and
B. I show that if the
ith party (where
i=A,B) can initiate a 1-LOCC protocol to perfectly distinguish among a set of orthogonal bipartite states, then the information of the existence of such a 1-LOCC protocol lies in a subspace of ${d}_{i}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{d}_{i}$ Hermitian matrices, denoted by ${\mathcal{T}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{(i)}$, and that the method to extract this information (of the existence of this 1-LOCC protocol) from ${\mathcal{T}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{(i)}$ depends on the value of $\mathrm{dim}{\mathcal{T}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{(i)}$. In this way one can give sweeping results for the 1-LOCC (in)distinguishability of all sets of orthogonal bipartite states corresponding to certain values of $\mathrm{dim}{\mathcal{T}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{(i)}$. Thus I propose that the value of $\mathrm{dim}{\mathcal{T}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{(i)}$ gives the common underlying property based on which sweeping results for the 1-LOCC (in)distinguishability of orthogonal bipartite quantum states can be made.