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arXiv:quant-ph/0103025 · Physical Review Letters

Classification of Mixed Three-Qubit States

A. Acín, Dagmar Bruß, Maciej Lewenstein, Anna Sanpera

Published Jul 3, 2001• 579 citations
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Abstract

We introduce a classification of mixed three-qubit states, in which we define the classes of separable, biseparable, W, and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states. These classes are successively embedded into each other. We show that contrary to pure W-type states, the mixed W class is not of measure zero. We construct witness operators that detect the class of a mixed state. We discuss the conjecture that all entangled states with positive partial transpose (PPTES) belong to the W class. Finally, we present a new family of PPTES "edge" states with maximal ranks.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.87.040401

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We introduce a classification of mixed three-qubit states, in which we define the classes of separable, biseparable, W, and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states. These classes are successively embedded into each other. We show that contrary to pure W-type states, the mixed W class is not of measure zero. We construct witness operators that detect the class of a mixed state. We discuss the conjecture that all entangled states with positive partial transpose (PPTES) belong to the W class. Finally, we present a new family of PPTES "edge" states with maximal ranks.
We show that the three-qubit entanglement classes, (0) null, (1) separable $A\text{\ensuremath{-}}B\text{\ensuremath{-}}C$, (2a) biseparable $A\text{\ensuremath{-}}BC$, (2b) biseparable $B\text{\ensuremath{-}}CA$, (2c) biseparable $C\text{\ensuremath{-}}AB$, (3) WWW, and (4) Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger, correspond respectively to ranks 0, 1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3, and 4 of a Freudenthal triple system defined over the Jordan algebra $\mathbb{C}\ensuremath{\bigoplus}\mathbb{C}\ensuremath{\bigoplus}\mathbb{C}$. We also compute the corresponding stochastic local operations and classical communication orbits.
The first characterization of mixed-state entanglement was achieved for two-qubit states in Werner's seminal work [Phys. Rev. A 40, 4277 (1989)]. A physically important extension concerns mixtures of a pure entangled state [such as the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state] and the unpolarized state. These mixed states serve as benchmark for the robustness of multipartite entanglement. They share the symmetries of the GHZ state. We call such states GHZ symmetric. Here we give a complete description of the entanglement in the family of three-qubit GHZ-symmetric states and, in particular, of the three-qubit generalized Werner states. Our method relies on the appropriate parametrization of the states and on the invariance of entanglement properties under general local operations. An application is the definition of a symmetrization witness for the entanglement class of arbitrary three-qubit states.
We study the noisy GHZ-W mixture (where GHZ denotes Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger). We demonstrate some necessary but not sufficient criteria for different classes of separability of these states. It turns out that the partial transposition criterion of Peres [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1413 (1996)] and the criteria of G\"uhne and Seevinck [New J. Phys. 12, 053002 (2010)] dealing with matrix elements are the strongest ones for different separability classes of this two-parameter state. As a result, we determine a set of entangled states of positive partial transpose.
Recently, a new type of symmetry for three-qubit quantum states was introduced, the so-called Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) symmetry. It includes the operations which leave the three-qubit standard GHZ state unchanged. This symmetry is powerful as it yields families of mixed states that are, on the one hand, complex enough from the physics point of view and, on the other hand, simple enough mathematically so that their properties can be characterized analytically. We show that by using the properties of GHZ-symmetric states it is straightforward to derive optimal witnesses for detecting class-specific entanglement in arbitrary three-qubit states.
We extend the classification of mixed states of quantum systems composed of arbitrary number of subsystems of arbitrary dimensions. This extended classification is complete in the sense of partial separability and gives 1+18+1 partial separability classes in the tripartite case contrary to a former 1+8+1. Then we give necessary and sufficient criteria for these classes, which make it possible to determine to which class a mixed state belongs. These criteria are given by convex roof extensions of functions defined on pure states. In the special case of three-qubit systems, we define a different set of such functions with the help of the Freudenthal triple system approach of three-qubit entanglement.
We have studied mixed quantum states in the system of three qubits with the property that all their partial transposes are positive; these are called PPT states. We classify a PPT state by the ranks of the state itself and its three single partial transposes. We have studied especially the rank 4444 and rank 5555 entangled PPT states.We find two distinct classes of rank four states, identified by a real valued quadratic expression invariant under local sln\\slnsln transformations, mathematically equivalent to continuous Lorentz transformations. This quadratic Lorentz invariant is non-zero for one class of states (type 1) and zero for the other class (type 2). We present analytical constructions of states of both types, general enough to reproduce all the rank four PPT states we have found numerically.There are six product vectors in a generic five dimensional subspace. The product vectors are used to define SL invariants of the state and its partial transposes. We find four distinct classes of states based which invariants are conserved or not under partial transposition.We find that a state is in the equivalence class of a symmetric state when its invariants are conserved under a partial transposition, and we have shown how to transform the state into its symmetric form through Lorentz transformations.The dimensions and geometry of extremal rank 5555 PPT states has also been examined. We find that states of different types lie on surfaces of rank 5555 different dimensions. And the surfaces touch the simplex of separable states in different ways