The three-tangle is a measure of three-way entanglement in a system of three qubits. For a pure state, it can be understood as the residual entanglement not accounted for by pairwise entanglements between individual qubits. Here we define and evaluate the analogous quantity for three rebits (that is, binary systems in the real-amplitude variant of quantum theory). We find that the resulting formula is the same as in the complex case, except that an overall absolute value sign is missing. As a result, the rebit three-tangle can be negative, expressing the possibility of non-monogamous entanglement in real-amplitude quantum theory (for entanglement based on the convex-roof construction). We then relate the entanglement among three rebits to the entanglement of two qubits, by re-expressing the two-qubit state as a three-rebit state in the ubit model. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to '50 years of Bell's theorem'.
We begin by seeking the qubit-qutrit and rebit-retrit counterparts to the now well-established Hilbert-Schmidt separability probabilities for (the 15-dimensional convex set of) two-qubits of
338=3⋅1123≈0.242424 and (the 9-dimensional) two-rebits of
6429=2629≈0.453125. Based in part on extensive numerical computations, we advance the possibilities of a qubit-qutrit value of
100027=(103)3=23⋅5333=0.027 and a rebit-retrit one of
6561860=3822⋅5⋅43≈0.131078. These four values for
2×m systems (
m=2,3) suggest certain numerator/denominator sequences involving powers of
m, which we further investigate for
m>3. Additionally, we find that the Hilbert-Schmidt separability/PPT-probabilities for the two-rebit, rebit-retrit and two-retrit
X-states all equal
3π216≈0.54038, as well as more generally, that the probabilities based on induced measures are equal across these three sets of
X-states. Then, we extend the generalized two-qubit framework introduced by Lovas and Andai from Hilbert-Schmidt measures to induced ones. For instance, while the Lovas-Andai two-qubit function is
31ε2(4−ε2), yielding
338, its
k=1 induced measure counterpart is
41ε2(3−ε2)2, yielding
14361=11⋅1361≈0.426573, where
ε is a singular-value ratio. We investigate, in these regards, the possibility of extending the previously-obtained "Lovas-Andai master formula".