Norms and Cones in the Theory of Quantum Entanglement

K. Hess

Nathaniel Johnston

There are various notions of positivity for matrices and linear matrix-valued maps that play important roles in quantum information theory. The cones of positive semidefinite matrices and completely positive linear maps, which represent quantum states and quantum channels respectively, are the most ubiquitous positive cones. There are also many natural cones that can been regarded as "more" or "less" positive than these standard examples. In particular, entanglement theory deals with the cones of separable operators and entanglement witnesses, which satisfy very strong and weak positivity properties respectively. Rather complementary to the various cones that arise in entanglement theory are norms. The trace and operator norms for operators and the diamond and completely bounded norms for superoperators are the typical norms that are seen throughout quantum information theory. In this work our main goal is to develop a family of norms that play a role analogous to the cone of entanglement witnesses. We investigate the basic mathematical properties of these norms, including their relationships with other well-known norms, their isometry groups, and their dual norms. We also make the place of these norms in entanglement theory rigorous by showing that entanglement witnesses arise from minimal operator systems, and analogously our norms arise from minimal operator spaces. Finally, we connect the various cones and norms considered here to several seemingly unrelated problems from other areas. We characterize the problem of whether or not non-positive partial transpose bound entangled states exist in terms of one of our norms, and provide evidence in favour of their existence. We also characterize the minimum gate fidelity of a quantum channel, the maximum output purity and its completely bounded counterpart, and the geometric measure of entanglement in terms of these norms.

Manuel Aschwanden

Francesca La Piana, Alexander Müller‐Hermes

Linear maps between finite-dimensional ordered vector spaces with orders induced by proper cones C A and C B are called entanglement breaking if their partial application sends the maximal tensor product K ⊗ max C A into the minimal tensor product K ⊗ min C B for any proper cone K . We study the larger class of Lorentz-entanglement breaking maps where K is restricted to be a Lorentz cone of any dimension, i.e., any cone over a Euclidean ball. This class of maps appeared recently in the study of asymptotic entanglement annihilation and it is dual to the linear maps factoring through Lorentz cones. Our main results establish connections between these classes of maps and operator ideals studied in the theory of Banach spaces. For operators u : X → Y between finite-dimensional normed spaces X and Y we consider so-called central maps which are positive with respect to the cones C A = C X and C B = C Y . We show how to characterize when such a map factors through a Lorentz cone and when it is Lorentz-entanglement breaking by using the Hilbert-space factorization norm γ 2 and its dual ⁎ γ 2 ⁎ . We also study the class of Lorentz-entanglement annihilating maps whose local application sends the Lorentzian tensor product C A ⊗ L C A into the minimal tensor product C B ⊗ min C B . When C A is a cone over a finite-dimensional normed space and C B is a Lorentz cone itself, the central maps of this kind can be characterized by the 2-summing norm π 2 . Finally, we prove interesting connections between these classes of maps for general cones, and we identify examples with particular properties, e.g., cones with an analogue of the 2-summing property.

David Reeb, Michael J. Kastoryano, Michael M. Wolf

We introduce and apply Hilbert's projective metric in the context of quantum information theory. The metric is induced by convex cones such as the sets of positive, separable or positive partial transpose operators. It provides bounds on measures for statistical distinguishability of quantum states and on the decrease of entanglement under protocols involving local quantum operations and classical communication or under other cone-preserving operations. The results are formulated in terms of general cones and base norms and lead to contractivity bounds for quantum channels, for instance, improving Ruskai's trace-norm contraction inequality. A new duality between distinguishability measures and base norms is provided. For two given pairs of quantum states we show that the contraction of Hilbert's projective metric is necessary and sufficient for the existence of a probabilistic quantum operation that maps one pair onto the other. Inequalities between Hilbert's projective metric and the Chernoff bound, the fidelity and various norms are proven.

P. K. Aravind