Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:quant-ph/0411109 · Physical Review A

Unitarily localizable entanglement of Gaussian states

Alessio Serafini, Gerardo Adesso, Fabrizio Illuminati

Published Mar 30, 2005• 132 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider generic $(m\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n)$-mode bipartitions of continuous-variable systems, and study the associated bisymmetric multimode Gaussian states. They are defined as $(m+n)$-mode Gaussian states invariant under local mode permutations on the $m$-mode and $n$-mode subsystems. We prove that such states are equivalent, under local unitary transformations, to the tensor product of a two-mode state and of $m+n\ensuremath{-}2$ uncorrelated single-mode states. The entanglement between the $m$-mode and the $n$-mode blocks can then be completely concentrated on a single pair of modes by means of local unitary operations alone. This result allows us to prove that the PPT (positivity of the partial transpose) condition is necessary and sufficient for the separability of $(m+n)$-mode bisymmetric Gaussian states. We determine exactly their negativity and identify a subset of bisymmetric states whose multimode entanglement of formation can be computed analytically. We consider explicit examples of pure and mixed bisymmetric states and study their entanglement scaling with the number of modes.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.71.032349

Related papers

Bipartite and Multipartite Entanglement of Gaussian States

Gerardo Adesso, Fabrizio Illuminati

In this chapter we review the characterization of entanglement in Gaussian states of continuous variable systems. For two-mode Gaussian states, we discuss how their bipartite entanglement can be accurately quantified in terms of the global and local amounts of mixedness, and efficiently estimated by direct measurements of the associated purities. For multimode Gaussian states endowed with local symmetry with respect to a given bipartition, we show how the multimode block entanglement can be completely and reversibly localized onto a single pair of modes by local, unitary operations. We then analyze the distribution of entanglement among multiple parties in multimode Gaussian states. We introduce the continuous-variable tangle to quantify entanglement sharing in Gaussian states and we prove that it satisfies the Coffman-Kundu-Wootters monogamy inequality. Nevertheless, we show that pure, symmetric three-mode Gaussian states, at variance with their discrete-variable counterparts, allow a promiscuous sharing of quantum correlations, exhibiting both maximum tripartite residual entanglement and maximum couplewise entanglement between any pair of modes. Finally, we investigate the connection between multipartite entanglement and the optimal fidelity in a continuous-variable quantum teleportation network. We show how the fidelity can be maximized in terms of the best preparation of the shared entangled resources and, viceversa, that this optimal fidelity provides a clearcut operational interpretation of several measures of bipartite and multipartite entanglement, including the entanglement of formation, the localizable entanglement, and the continuous-variable tangle.

arXiv:quant-ph/0510052•IMPERIAL COLLEGE PRESS eBooks•Feb 1, 2007•10 citations

Gaussian entanglement revisited

Ludovico Lami, Alessio Serafini, Gerardo Adesso

We present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.

•Feb 1, 2018•48 citations

Gaussian entanglement revisited

Ludovico Lami, Alessio Serafini, Gerardo Adesso

We present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.

arXiv:1612.05215•New Journal of Physics•Jan 9, 2018•66 citations

Standard forms and entanglement engineering of multimode Gaussian states under local operations

Alessio Serafini, Gerardo Adesso

Abstract. We investigate the action of local unitary operations on multimode (pure or mixed) Gaussian states and single out the minimal number of locally invariant parametres which completely characterise the covariance matrix of such states. For pure Gaussian states, central resources for continuous-variable quantum information, we investigate separately the parametre reduction due to the additional constraint of global purity, and the one following by the local-unitary freedom. Counting arguments and insights from the phase-space Schmidt decomposition and in general from the framework of symplectic analysis, accompany our description of the standard form of pure n-mode Gaussian states. In particular we clarify why only in pure states with n ≤ 3 modes all the direct correlations between position and momentum operators can be set to zero by local unitary operations. For any n, the emerging minimal set of parametres contains complete information about all forms of entanglement in the corresponding states. An efficient state engineering scheme (able to encode direct correlations between position and momentum operators as well) is proposed to produce entangled multimode Gaussian resources, its number of optical elements matching the minimal number of locally invariant degrees of freedom of general pure n-mode Gaussian states.

•Jan 1, 2007•16 citations

Geometric characterization of separability and entanglement in pure Gaussian states by single-mode unitary operations

Gerardo Adesso, S. M. Giampaolo, Fabrizio Illuminati

We present a geometric approach to the characterization of separability and entanglement in pure Gaussian states of an arbitrary number of modes. The analysis is performed adapting to continuous variables a formalism based on single subsystem unitary transformations that has been recently introduced to characterize separability and entanglement in pure states of qubits and qutrits [S. M. Giampaolo and F. Illuminati, Phys. Rev. A 76, 042301 (2007)]. In analogy with the finite-dimensional case, we demonstrate that the $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}M$ bipartite entanglement of a multimode pure Gaussian state can be quantified by the minimum squared Euclidean distance between the state itself and the set of states obtained by transforming it via suitable local symplectic (unitary) operations. This minimum distance, corresponding to $a$, uniquely determined, extremal local operation, defines an entanglement monotone equivalent to the entropy of entanglement, and amenable to direct experimental measurement with linear optical schemes.

arXiv:0707.3284•Physical Review A•Oct 26, 2007•7 citations

Genuine multipartite entanglement of symmetric Gaussian states: Strong monogamy, unitary localization, scaling behavior, and molecular sharing structure

Gerardo Adesso, Fabrizio Illuminati

We investigate the structural aspects of genuine multipartite entanglement in Gaussian states of continuous variable systems. Generalizing the results of Adesso and Illuminati [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 150501 (2007)], we analyze whether the entanglement shared by blocks of modes distributes according to a strong monogamy law. This property, once established, allows us to quantify the genuine $N$-partite entanglement not encoded into $2,\dots{},K,\dots{},(N\ensuremath{-}1)$-partite quantum correlations. Strong monogamy is numerically verified, and the explicit expression of the measure of residual genuine multipartite entanglement is analytically derived, by a recursive formula, for a subclass of Gaussian states. These are fully symmetric (permutation-invariant) states that are multipartitioned into blocks, each consisting of an arbitrarily assigned number of modes. We compute the genuine multipartite entanglement shared by the blocks of modes and investigate its scaling properties with the number and size of the blocks, the total number of modes, the global mixedness of the state, and the squeezed resources needed for state engineering. To achieve the exact computation of the block entanglement, we introduce and prove a general result of symplectic analysis: Correlations among $K$ blocks in $N$-mode multisymmetric and multipartite Gaussian states, which are locally invariant under permutation of modes within each block, can be transformed by a local (with respect to the partition) unitary operation into correlations shared by $K$ single modes, one per block, in effective nonsymmetric states where $N\ensuremath{-}K$ modes are completely uncorrelated. Due to this theorem, the above results, such as the derivation of the explicit expression for the residual multipartite entanglement, its nonnegativity, and its scaling properties, extend to the subclass of non-symmetric Gaussian states that are obtained by the unitary localization of the multipartite entanglement of symmetric states. These findings provide strong numerical evidence that the distributed Gaussian entanglement is strongly monogamous under and possibly beyond specific symmetry constraints, and that the residual continuous-variable tangle is a proper measure of genuine multipartite entanglement for permutation-invariant Gaussian states under any multipartition of the modes.

arXiv:0805.2942•Physical Review A•Oct 10, 2008•37 citations
We consider generic (m\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fin)(m\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n)(m\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fin)-mode bipartitions of continuous-variable systems, and study the associated bisymmetric multimode Gaussian states. They are defined as (m+n)(m+n)(m+n)-mode Gaussian states invariant under local mode permutations on the mmm-mode and nnn-mode subsystems. We prove that such states are equivalent, under local unitary transformations, to the tensor product of a two-mode state and of m+n\ensuremath−2m+n\ensuremath{-}2m+n\ensuremath−2 uncorrelated single-mode states. The entanglement between the mmm-mode and the nnn-mode blocks can then be completely concentrated on a single pair of modes by means of local unitary operations alone. This result allows us to prove that the PPT (positivity of the partial transpose) condition is necessary and sufficient for the separability of (m+n)(m+n)(m+n)-mode bisymmetric Gaussian states. We determine exactly their negativity and identify a subset of bisymmetric states whose multimode entanglement of formation can be computed analytically. We consider explicit examples of pure and mixed bisymmetric states and study their entanglement scaling with the number of modes.
In this chapter we review the characterization of entanglement in Gaussian states of continuous variable systems. For two-mode Gaussian states, we discuss how their bipartite entanglement can be accurately quantified in terms of the global and local amounts of mixedness, and efficiently estimated by direct measurements of the associated purities. For multimode Gaussian states endowed with local symmetry with respect to a given bipartition, we show how the multimode block entanglement can be completely and reversibly localized onto a single pair of modes by local, unitary operations. We then analyze the distribution of entanglement among multiple parties in multimode Gaussian states. We introduce the continuous-variable tangle to quantify entanglement sharing in Gaussian states and we prove that it satisfies the Coffman-Kundu-Wootters monogamy inequality. Nevertheless, we show that pure, symmetric three-mode Gaussian states, at variance with their discrete-variable counterparts, allow a promiscuous sharing of quantum correlations, exhibiting both maximum tripartite residual entanglement and maximum couplewise entanglement between any pair of modes. Finally, we investigate the connection between multipartite entanglement and the optimal fidelity in a continuous-variable quantum teleportation network. We show how the fidelity can be maximized in terms of the best preparation of the shared entangled resources and, viceversa, that this optimal fidelity provides a clearcut operational interpretation of several measures of bipartite and multipartite entanglement, including the entanglement of formation, the localizable entanglement, and the continuous-variable tangle.
We present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.
We present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.
Abstract. We investigate the action of local unitary operations on multimode (pure or mixed) Gaussian states and single out the minimal number of locally invariant parametres which completely characterise the covariance matrix of such states. For pure Gaussian states, central resources for continuous-variable quantum information, we investigate separately the parametre reduction due to the additional constraint of global purity, and the one following by the local-unitary freedom. Counting arguments and insights from the phase-space Schmidt decomposition and in general from the framework of symplectic analysis, accompany our description of the standard form of pure n-mode Gaussian states. In particular we clarify why only in pure states with n ≤ 3 modes all the direct correlations between position and momentum operators can be set to zero by local unitary operations. For any n, the emerging minimal set of parametres contains complete information about all forms of entanglement in the corresponding states. An efficient state engineering scheme (able to encode direct correlations between position and momentum operators as well) is proposed to produce entangled multimode Gaussian resources, its number of optical elements matching the minimal number of locally invariant degrees of freedom of general pure n-mode Gaussian states.
We present a geometric approach to the characterization of separability and entanglement in pure Gaussian states of an arbitrary number of modes. The analysis is performed adapting to continuous variables a formalism based on single subsystem unitary transformations that has been recently introduced to characterize separability and entanglement in pure states of qubits and qutrits [S. M. Giampaolo and F. Illuminati, Phys. Rev. A 76, 042301 (2007)]. In analogy with the finite-dimensional case, we demonstrate that the $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}M$ bipartite entanglement of a multimode pure Gaussian state can be quantified by the minimum squared Euclidean distance between the state itself and the set of states obtained by transforming it via suitable local symplectic (unitary) operations. This minimum distance, corresponding to aaa, uniquely determined, extremal local operation, defines an entanglement monotone equivalent to the entropy of entanglement, and amenable to direct experimental measurement with linear optical schemes.
We investigate the structural aspects of genuine multipartite entanglement in Gaussian states of continuous variable systems. Generalizing the results of Adesso and Illuminati [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 150501 (2007)], we analyze whether the entanglement shared by blocks of modes distributes according to a strong monogamy law. This property, once established, allows us to quantify the genuine NNN-partite entanglement not encoded into $2,\dots{},K,\dots{},(N\ensuremath{-}1)$-partite quantum correlations. Strong monogamy is numerically verified, and the explicit expression of the measure of residual genuine multipartite entanglement is analytically derived, by a recursive formula, for a subclass of Gaussian states. These are fully symmetric (permutation-invariant) states that are multipartitioned into blocks, each consisting of an arbitrarily assigned number of modes. We compute the genuine multipartite entanglement shared by the blocks of modes and investigate its scaling properties with the number and size of the blocks, the total number of modes, the global mixedness of the state, and the squeezed resources needed for state engineering. To achieve the exact computation of the block entanglement, we introduce and prove a general result of symplectic analysis: Correlations among KKK blocks in NNN-mode multisymmetric and multipartite Gaussian states, which are locally invariant under permutation of modes within each block, can be transformed by a local (with respect to the partition) unitary operation into correlations shared by KKK single modes, one per block, in effective nonsymmetric states where $N\ensuremath{-}K$ modes are completely uncorrelated. Due to this theorem, the above results, such as the derivation of the explicit expression for the residual multipartite entanglement, its nonnegativity, and its scaling properties, extend to the subclass of non-symmetric Gaussian states that are obtained by the unitary localization of the multipartite entanglement of symmetric states. These findings provide strong numerical evidence that the distributed Gaussian entanglement is strongly monogamous under and possibly beyond specific symmetry constraints, and that the residual continuous-variable tangle is a proper measure of genuine multipartite entanglement for permutation-invariant Gaussian states under any multipartition of the modes.