The properties of deterministic LOCC transformations of three qubit pure states are studied. We show that the set of states in the GHZ class breaks into an infinite number of disjoint classes under this type of transformation. These classes are characterized by the value of a quantity that is invariant under these transformations, and is defined in terms of the coefficients of a particular canonical form in which only states in the GHZ class can be expressed. This invariant also imposes a strong constraint on any POVM that is part of a deterministic protocol. We also consider a transformation generated by a local 2-outcome POVM and study under what conditions it is deterministic, i.e., both outcomes belong to the same orbit. We prove that for real states it is always possible to find such a POVM and we discuss analytical and numerical evidence that suggests that this result also holds for complex states. We study the transformation generated in the space of orbits when one or more parties apply several deterministic POVMs in succession and use these results to give a complete characterization of the real states that can be obtained from the GHZ state with probability 1.
The properties of deterministic LOCC transformations of three qubit pure states are studied. We show that the set of states in the GHZ class breaks into an infinite number of disjoint classes under this type of transformation. These classes are characterized by the value of a quantity that is invariant under these transformations, and is defined in terms of the coefficients of a particular canonical form in which only states in the GHZ class can be expressed. This invariant also imposes a strong constraint on any POVM that is part of a deterministic protocol. We also consider a transformation generated by a local 2-outcome POVM and study under what conditions it is deterministic, i.e., both outcomes belong to the same orbit. We prove that for real states it is always possible to find such a POVM and we discuss analytical and numerical evidence that suggests that this result also holds for complex states. We study the transformation generated in the space of orbits when one or more parties apply several deterministic POVMs in succession and use these results to give a complete characterization of the real states that can be obtained from the GHZ state with probability 1.
The states of three-qubit systems split into two inequivalent types of genuine tripartite entanglement, namely, the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) type and the W type. A state belonging to one of these classes can be stochastically transformed only into a state within the same class by local operations and classical communications. We provide local quantum operations, consisting of the most general two-outcome measurement operators, for the deterministic transformations of three-qubit pure states in which the initial and the target states are in the same class. We explore these transformations, originally having standard GHZ and standard W states, under the local measurement operations carried out by a single party and p (p=2,3) parties (successively). We find a notable result that the standard GHZ state cannot be deterministically transformed to a GHZ-type state in which all its bipartite entanglements are nonzero, i.e., a transformation can be achieved with unit probability when the target state has at least one vanishing bipartite concurrence.
This thesis studies the manipulation of entanglement in three-qubit quantum systems. I consider the operational setting in which the qubits are distributed to three spatially separated parties. The parties act locally on their quantum systems and share classical communication with one another, a scenario commonly called local operations and classical communication (LOCC). In the LOCC setting, there are two different classes of entanglement in multipartite systems, called the GHZ and W classes, which are inequivalent in the sense that states from one class cannot be transformed into the other without the consumption of additional entanglement. In this thesis, I first show that the LOCC conversion of certain GHZ and W-class states becomes possible by using only one additional ebit (“entangled bit”) of shared entanglement. In many cases, this can be proven as the minimal amount of needed entanglement. I then consider the problem of one-way communication transformations from general three-qubit states into two-qubit maximally entangled states, known as EPR states. An optimal protocol in terms of success probability is provided for W-class states. The success probability of this protocol coincides with the optimal success probability if two of the parties are allowed to act jointly within the same laboratory. In other words, forcing the locality constraint on all three parties does not weaken their capabilities for obtaining bipartite entanglement when starting from a W-class state. I also present that this property holds for certain types of GHZ-class states as well.
For a tripartite pure state of three qubits, it is well known that there are two inequivalent classes of genuine tripartite entanglement, namely the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) class and the W class. Any two states within the same class can be transformed into each other with stochastic local operations and classical communication with a nonzero probability. The optimal conversion probability, however, is only known for special cases. Here, lower and upper bounds are derived for the optimal probability of transformation from a GHZ state to other states of the GHZ class. A key idea in the derivation of the upper bounds is to consider the action of the local operations and classical communications (LOCC) protocol on a different input state, namely $1/\sqrt{2}[|000\ensuremath{\rangle}\ensuremath{-}|111\ensuremath{\rangle}]$, and to demand that the probability of an outcome remains bounded by 1. We also find an upper bound for more general cases by using the constraints of the so-called interference term and 3-tangle. Moreover, some of the results are generalized to the case in which each party holds a higher dimensional system. In particular, the GHZ state generalized to three qutrits; that is, $|{\mathrm{GHZ}}_{3}\ensuremath{\rangle}=1/\sqrt{3}[|000\ensuremath{\rangle}+|111\ensuremath{\rangle}+|222\ensuremath{\rangle}]$ shared among three parties can be transformed to any tripartite three-qubit pure state with probability 1 via LOCC. Some of our results can also be generalized to the case of a multipartite state shared by more than three parties.
A necessary and sufficient condition of the possibility of a deterministic local operations and classical communication (LOCC) transformation of three-qubit pure states is given. The condition shows that the three-qubit pure states are a partially ordered set parametrized by five well-known entanglement parameters and a novel parameter; the five are the concurrences CAB, CAC, CBC, the tangle τABC and the fifth parameter J5 of Acín et al. (2000) Ref. [19], while the other new one is the entanglement charge Qe. The order of the partially ordered set is defined by the possibility of a deterministic LOCC transformation from a state to another state. In this sense, the present condition is an extension of Nielsen’s work (Nielsen (1999) [14]) to three-qubit pure states. We also clarify the rules of transfer and dissipation of the entanglement which is caused by deterministic LOCC transformations. Moreover, the minimum number of times of measurements to reproduce an arbitrary deterministic LOCC transformation between three-qubit pure states is given.
Entanglement is a resource to overcome the natural restriction of operations used for state manipulation to Local Operations assisted by Classical Communication (LOCC). Hence, a bipartite maximally entangled state is a state which can be transformed deterministically into any other state via LOCC. In the multipartite setting no such state exists. There, rather a whole set, the Maximally Entangled Set of states (MES), which we recently introduced, is required. This set has on the one hand the property that any state outside of this set can be obtained via LOCC from one of the states within the set and on the other hand, no state in the set can be obtained from any other state via LOCC. Recently, we studied LOCC transformations among pure multipartite states and derived the MES for three and generic four qubit states. Here, we consider the non-generic four qubit states and analyze their properties regarding local transformations. As already the most coarse grained classification, due to Stochastic LOCC (SLOCC), of four qubit states is much richer than in case of three qubits, the investigation of possible LOCC transformations is correspondingly more difficult. We prove that most SLOCC classes show a similar behavior as the generic states, however we also identify here three classes with very distinct properties. The first consists of the GHZ and W class, where any state can be transformed into some other state non-trivially. In particular, there exists no isolation. On the other hand, there also exist classes where all states are isolated. Last but not least we identify an additional class of states, whose transformation properties differ drastically from all the other classes. Although the possibility of transforming states into local-unitary inequivalent states by LOCC turns out to be very rare, we identify those states (with exception of the latter class) which are in the MES and those, which can be obtained (transformed) non-trivially from (into) other states respectively. These investigations do not only identify the most relevant classes of states for LOCC entanglement manipulation, but also reveal new insight into the similarities and differences between separable and LOCC transformations and enable the investigation of LOCC transformations among arbitrary four qubit states.
The study of state transformations under local operations and classical communication (LOCC) plays a crucial role in entanglement theory. While this has been long ago characterized for pure bipartite states, the situation is drastically different for systems of more parties: generic pure qudit states cannot be obtained from nor transformed to any state (i.e., they are isolated), which contains a different amount of entanglement. We consider here the question of LOCC convertibility for permutation-symmetric pure states of an arbitrary number of parties and local dimension, a class of clear interest both for physical and mathematical reasons and for which the aforementioned result does not apply given that it is a zero-measure subset in the state space. While it turns out that generic n-qubit symmetric states are also isolated, we consider particular families for which we can determine to be, on the contrary, endowed with a rich local stabilizer, a necessary requirement for LOCC convertibility to be possible. This allows us to identify classes in which LOCC transformations among permutation-symmetric states are possible. Notwithstanding, we provide several results that indicate severe obstructions to LOCC convertibility in general even within these highly symmetrical classes. In the course of the study of LOCC transformations, we also characterize the local symmetries of symmetric states.