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Separable approximations of density matrices of composite quantum systems

Karnas, S, Maciej Lewenstein

Published Nov 15, 2000• 38 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We investigate optimal separable approximations (decompositions) of states rho of bipartite quantum systems A and B of arbitrary dimensions MxN following the lines of Ref. [M. Lewenstein and A. Sanpera, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2261 (1998)]. Such approximations allow to represent in an optimal way any density operator as a sum of a separable state and an entangled state of a certain form. For two qubit systems (M=N=2) the best separable approximation has a form of a mixture of a separable state and a projector onto a pure entangled state. We formulate a necessary condition that the pure state in the best separable approximation is not maximally entangled. We demonstrate that the weight of the entangled state in the best separable approximation in arbitrary dimensions provides a good entanglement measure. We prove in general for arbitrary M and N that the best separable approximation corresponds to a mixture of a separable and an entangled state which are both unique. We develop also a theory of optimal separable approximations for states with positive partial transpose (PPT states). Such approximations allow to decompose any density operator with positive partial transpose as a sum of a separable state and an entangled PPT state. We discuss procedures of constructing such decompositions.

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Optimal Lewenstein–Sanpera decomposition for some bipartite systems

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We investigate the problem of finding the optimal convex decomposition of a bipartite quantum state into a separable part and a positive remainder, in which the weight of the separable part is maximal. This weight is naturally identified with the degree of separability of the state. In a recent work, the problem was solved for two-qubit states using semidefinite programming. In this paper, we describe a procedure to obtain the optimal decomposition of a bipartite state of any finite dimension via a sequence of semidefinite relaxations. The sequence of decompositions thus obtained is shown to converge to the optimal one. This provides a systematic method to determine the so-called optimal Lewenstein-Sanpera decomposition of any bipartite state. Numerical results are provided to illustrate this procedure, and the special case of rank-2 states is also discussed.

arXiv:1005.3675•Physical Review A•Jul 26, 2010•4 citations
We investigate optimal separable approximations (decompositions) of states rho of bipartite quantum systems A and B of arbitrary dimensions MxN following the lines of Ref. [M. Lewenstein and A. Sanpera, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2261 (1998)]. Such approximations allow to represent in an optimal way any density operator as a sum of a separable state and an entangled state of a certain form. For two qubit systems (M=N=2) the best separable approximation has a form of a mixture of a separable state and a projector onto a pure entangled state. We formulate a necessary condition that the pure state in the best separable approximation is not maximally entangled. We demonstrate that the weight of the entangled state in the best separable approximation in arbitrary dimensions provides a good entanglement measure. We prove in general for arbitrary M and N that the best separable approximation corresponds to a mixture of a separable and an entangled state which are both unique. We develop also a theory of optimal separable approximations for states with positive partial transpose (PPT states). Such approximations allow to decompose any density operator with positive partial transpose as a sum of a separable state and an entangled PPT state. We discuss procedures of constructing such decompositions.
We investigate optimal separable approximations (decompositions) of states ϱ of bipartite quantum systems A and B of arbitrary dimensions M × N following the lines of Lewenstein and Sanpera. Such approximations allow to represent in an optimal way any density operator as a sum of a separable state and an entangled state of a certain form. For two-qubit systems ( M = N = 2) the best separable approximation has the form of a mixture of a separable state and a projector onto a pure entangled state. We formulate a necessary condition that the pure state in the best separable approximation is not maximally entangled. We demonstrate that the weight of the entangled state in the best separable approximation in arbitrary dimensions provides a good entanglement measure. We prove for arbitrary M and N that the best separable approximation corresponds to a mixture of separable and entangled states, both of which are unique. We develop also a theory of optimal separable approximations for states with positive partial transpose (PPT states). Such approximations allow to decompose any density operator with positive partial transpose as a sum of a separable state and an entangled PPT state. We discuss procedures for constructing such decompositions.
Quantum states are the key mathematical objects in quantum mechanics, and entanglement lies at the heart of the nascent fields of quantum information processing and computation. However, there has not been a general, necessary and sufficient, and operational separability condition to determine whether an arbitrary quantum state is entangled or separable. In this paper, we show that whether a quantum state is entangled or not is determined by a threshold within the quantum state. We first introduce the concept of finer and optimal separable states based on the properties of separable states in the role of higher-level witnesses. Then we show that any bipartite quantum state can be decomposed into a convex mixture of its optimal entangled state and its optimal separable state. Furthermore, we show that whether an arbitrary quantum state is entangled or separable, as well as positive partial transposition (PPT) or not, is determined by the robustness of its optimal entangled state to its optimal separable state with reference to a crucial threshold. Moreover, for an arbitrary quantum state, we provide operational algorithms to obtain its optimal entangled state, its optimal separable state, its best separable approximation (BSA) decomposition, and its best PPT approximation decomposition. And the open question of how to calculate the BSA in high-dimension systems is partially done.
It is shown that for a given bipartite density matrix and by choosing a suitable separable set (instead of a product set) on the separable–entangled boundary, the optimal Lewenstein–Sanpera (LS) decomposition (with respect to an arbitrary separable set) can be obtained via a direct optimization procedure for a generic entangled density matrix. On the basis of this, we obtain the optimal LS decomposition for some bipartite systems such as 2 ⊗ 2 and 2 ⊗ 3 Bell decomposable (BD) states, a generic two qubit state in Wootters basis, iso-concurrence decomposable states, states obtained from BD states via one-parameter and three-parameter local operations and classical communications (LOCC), d ⊗ d Werner and isotropic states and a one-parameter 3 ⊗ 3 state. We also obtain the optimal decomposition for multi-partite isotropic states. It is shown that in all 2 ⊗ 2 systems considered here the average concurrence of the decomposition is equal to the concurrence. We also show that for some 2 ⊗ 3 Bell decomposable states, the average concurrence of the decomposition is equal to the lower bound of the concurrence of the state presented recently in Lozinski et al (2003 Preprint quant-ph/0302144), so an exact expression for concurrence of these states is obtained. It is also shown that for a d ⊗ d isotropic state where decomposition leads to a separable and an entangled pure state, the average I-concurrence of the decomposition is equal to the I-concurrence of the state.
We consider low-rank density operators $\ensuremath{\varrho}$ supported on a $M\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}N$ Hilbert space for arbitrary M and N (M< N),(M<~N),(M< N), and with a positive partial transpose (PPT) ${\ensuremath{\varrho}}^{{T}_{A}}>~0.$ For rank $r(\ensuremath{\varrho})<~N$ we prove that having a PPT is necessary and sufficient for $\ensuremath{\varrho}$ to be separable; in this case we also provide its minimal decomposition in terms of pure product states. It follows from this result that there is no rank-3 bound entangled states having a PPT. We also present a necessary and sufficient condition for the separability of generic density matrices for which the sum of the ranks of $\ensuremath{\varrho}$ and ${\ensuremath{\varrho}}^{{T}_{A}}$ satisfies $r(\ensuremath{\varrho})+r({\ensuremath{\varrho}}^{{T}_{A}})<~2MN\ensuremath{-}M\ensuremath{-}N+2.$ This separability condition has the form of a constructive check, thus also providing a pure product state decomposition for separable states, and it works in those cases where a system of couple polynomial equations has a finite number of solutions, as expected in most cases.
We show that pure states of multipartite quantum systems are multiseparable (i.e., give separable density matrices on tracing any party) if and only if they have a generalized Schmidt decomposition. Implications of this result for the quantification of multipartite pure-state entanglement are discussed. Further, as an application of the techniques used here, we show that any purification of a bipartite-bound entangled state having a positive partial transpose is tri-inseparable, i.e., has none of its three bipartite partial traces separable.
We investigate the problem of finding the optimal convex decomposition of a bipartite quantum state into a separable part and a positive remainder, in which the weight of the separable part is maximal. This weight is naturally identified with the degree of separability of the state. In a recent work, the problem was solved for two-qubit states using semidefinite programming. In this paper, we describe a procedure to obtain the optimal decomposition of a bipartite state of any finite dimension via a sequence of semidefinite relaxations. The sequence of decompositions thus obtained is shown to converge to the optimal one. This provides a systematic method to determine the so-called optimal Lewenstein-Sanpera decomposition of any bipartite state. Numerical results are provided to illustrate this procedure, and the special case of rank-2 states is also discussed.