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/0501020 · Physical Review A

Entanglement detection in the stabilizer formalism

Géza Tóth, Otfried Gühne

Published Aug 29, 2005• 281 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate how stabilizer theory can be used for constructing sufficient conditions for entanglement. First, we show how entanglement witnesses can be derived for a given state, provided some stabilizing operators of the state are known. These witnesses require only a small effort for an experimental implementation and are robust against noise. Second, we demonstrate that also nonlinear criteria based on uncertainty relations can be derived from stabilizing operators. These criteria can sometimes improve the witnesses by adding nonlinear correction terms. All our criteria detect states close to Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, cluster and graph states. We show that similar ideas can be used to derive entanglement conditions for states which do not fit the stabilizer formalism, such as the three-qubit $W$ state. We also discuss connections between the witnesses and some Bell inequalities.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.72.022340

Related papers

Lecture notes on quantum entanglement: From stabilizer states to stabilizer channels

Amir R. Arab

We study mathematical, physical and computational aspects of the stabilizer formalism arising in quantum information and quantum computation. The measurement process of Pauli observables with its algorithm is given. It is shown that to detect genuine entanglement we need a full set of stabilizer generators and the stabilizer witness is coarser than the GHZ (Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger) witness. We discuss stabilizer codes and construct a stabilizer code from a given linear code. We also discuss quantum error correction, error recovery criteria and syndrome extraction. The symplectic structure of the stabilizer formalism is established and it is shown that any stabilizer code is unitarily equivalent to a trivial code. The structure of graph codes as stabilizer codes is identified by obtaining the respective stabilizer generators. The distance of embeddable stabilizer codes in lattices is obtained. We discuss the Knill–Gottesman theorem, tableau representation and frame representation. The runtime of simulating stabilizer gates is obtained by applying stabilizer matrices. Furthermore, an algorithm for updating global phases is given. Resolution of quantum channels into stabilizer channels is shown. We discuss capacity achieving codes to obtain the capacity of the quantum erasure channel. Finally, we discuss the shadow tomography problem and an algorithm for constructing classical shadow is given.

Frontiers of Physics•Apr 16, 2024•3 citations

Detecting quantum entanglement : entanglement witnesses and uncertainty relations

Otfried Gühne

This thesis deals with methods of the detection of entanglement.After recalling some facts and definitions concerning entanglement and separability, we investigate two methods of the detection of entanglement.In the first part of this thesis we consider so-called entanglement witnesses, mainly in view of the detection of multipartite entanglement.Entanglement witnesses are observables for which a negative expectation value indicates entanglement.We first present a simple method to construct these witnesses.Since witnesses are nonlocal observables, they are not easy to measure in a real experiment.However, as we will show, one can circumvent this problem by decomposing the witness into several local observables which can be measured separately.We calculate the local decompositions for several interesting witnesses for two, three and four qubits.Local decompositions can be optimized in the number of measurement settings which are needed for an experimental implementation.We present a method to prove that a given local decomposition is optimal and discuss with this the optimality of our decompositions.Then we present another method of designing witnesses which are by construction measurable with local measurements.Finally, we shortly report on experiments where some of the witnesses derived in this part have been used to detect three-and four-partite entanglement of polarized photons.The second part of this thesis deals with separability criteria which are written in terms of uncertainty relations.There are two different formulations of uncertainty relations since one can measure the uncertainty of an observable by its variance as well as by entropic quantities.We show that both formulations are useful tools for the derivation of separability criteria for finite-dimensional systems and investigate the resulting criteria.Our results in this part exhibit also some more fundamental properties of entanglement: We show how known separability criteria for infinitedimensional systems can be translated to finite-dimensional systems.Furthermore, we prove that any entropic uncertainty relation on one part of the system gives rise to a separability criterion on the composite system.

•Jan 1, 2004•3 citations

Detecting Genuine Multipartite Entanglement with Two Local Measurements

Géza Tóth, Otfried Gühne

We present entanglement witness operators for detecting genuine multipartite entanglement. These witnesses are robust against noise and require only two local measurement settings when used in an experiment, independent of the number of qubits. This allows detection of entanglement for an increasing number of parties without a corresponding increase in effort. The witnesses presented detect states close to Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger, cluster, and graph states. Connections to Bell inequalities are also discussed.

arXiv:quant-ph/0405165•Physical Review Letters•Feb 17, 2005•349 citations

Entanglement witnesses for stabilizer states and subspaces beyond qubits

Jakub Szczepaniak, Owidiusz Makuta, Remigiusz Augusiak

Abstract Genuine multipartite entanglement (GME) is arguably the most valuable form of entanglement in the multipartite case with application for instance in quantum metrology. In order to detect that form of entanglement in multipartite quantum states, one typically uses entanglement witnesses. The aim of this paper is to generalize the results of Tóth and Gühne (2005 Phys. Rev. A 72 022340) in order to provide a construction of witnesses of GME tailored to entangled subspaces originating from the multi-qudit stabilizer formalism—a framework well known for its role in quantum error correction, which also provides a very convenient description of a broad class of entangled multipartite states (both pure and mixed). Our construction includes graph states of arbitrary local dimension. We then show that in certain situations, the obtained witnesses detecting GME in quantum systems of higher local dimension are superior in terms of noise robustness to those derived for multiqubit states.

arXiv:2508.13734•Reports on Progress in Physics•Nov 1, 2025•0 citations

Design and experimental performance of local entanglement witness operators

David Amaro, Markus Müller

Entanglement is a central concept in quantum information and a key resource for many quantum protocols. In this work we propose and analyze a class of entanglement witnesses that detect the presence of entanglement in subsystems of experimental multiqubit stabilizer states. The witnesses we propose can be decomposed into sums of Pauli operators and can be efficiently evaluated by either two measurement settings only or at most a number of measurements that only depends on the size of the subsystem of interest. We provide two constructive methods to design the local witness operators, the first one based on the local unitary equivalence between graph and stabilizer states, and the second one based on sufficient and necessary conditions that the respective set of constituent Pauli operators needs to fulfill. We theoretically establish the noise tolerance of the proposed witnesses and benchmark their practical performance by analyzing the local entanglement structure of an experimental seven-qubit quantum error correction code.

arXiv:1911.01144•Physical Review A•Jan 13, 2020•22 citations

General method of constructing entanglement witness

Ying Yang, Cao Huai-Xin

Quantum entanglement, as an indispensable resource in quantum communication and quantum computation, is widely used in the field of quantum information. However, people's understanding on entanglement is quite limited both theoretically and experimentally. How to determine whether a given quantum state is entangled is still an important task. The entanglement witness is a kind of special self-adjoint operator, it can be used to determine whether a quantum state is an entangled state. This provides a new direction for the determination of entangled states. Entanglement witness has its own unique characteristics in various kinds of entanglement criterion. It is the most effective tool for detecting multipartite entanglement, and the most useful method to detect entanglement in experiments. In the background of quantum theory, we use theory of operators to make a thorough and systematic study of the construction of entanglement witness in this paper. First, from the definition of an entanglement witness, a general method is given to construct an entanglement witness. It is proved that when the maximal expectation CA of an observable A in the separable pure states is strictly less than its biggest eigenvalue max(A), the operator WC=CI-A is an entanglement witness provided that CA C max(A). Although the entanglement witness WCA can detect more entangled states than WC, but it is difficult to calculate the exact value of CA, and the estimate of the upper bound of CA is easier. Therefore, it is more convenient to construct entanglement witness WC than WCA. In quantum computation, a graph state is a special kind of multi-qubit state that can be represented by a graph. Each qubit is represented by a vertex of the graph, and there is an edge between every interacting pair of qubits. Graph states play a crucial role in many applications of quantum information theory, such as quantum error correcting codes, measurement-based quantum computation, and quantum simulation. Consequently, a significant effort is devoted to the creation and investigation of graph states. In the last part of this paper, as applications of our method, a series of methods for constructing an entanglement witness is obtained in the stabilizer formalism. It is also proved that how entanglement witnesses can be derived for a given graph state, provided some stabilizing operators of the graph state are known. Especially, when A is made up of some stabilizing operators of a graph state, entanglement witness WCA becomes one in literature.

Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2018•0 citations
We investigate how stabilizer theory can be used for constructing sufficient conditions for entanglement. First, we show how entanglement witnesses can be derived for a given state, provided some stabilizing operators of the state are known. These witnesses require only a small effort for an experimental implementation and are robust against noise. Second, we demonstrate that also nonlinear criteria based on uncertainty relations can be derived from stabilizing operators. These criteria can sometimes improve the witnesses by adding nonlinear correction terms. All our criteria detect states close to Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, cluster and graph states. We show that similar ideas can be used to derive entanglement conditions for states which do not fit the stabilizer formalism, such as the three-qubit WWW state. We also discuss connections between the witnesses and some Bell inequalities.
We study mathematical, physical and computational aspects of the stabilizer formalism arising in quantum information and quantum computation. The measurement process of Pauli observables with its algorithm is given. It is shown that to detect genuine entanglement we need a full set of stabilizer generators and the stabilizer witness is coarser than the GHZ (Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger) witness. We discuss stabilizer codes and construct a stabilizer code from a given linear code. We also discuss quantum error correction, error recovery criteria and syndrome extraction. The symplectic structure of the stabilizer formalism is established and it is shown that any stabilizer code is unitarily equivalent to a trivial code. The structure of graph codes as stabilizer codes is identified by obtaining the respective stabilizer generators. The distance of embeddable stabilizer codes in lattices is obtained. We discuss the Knill–Gottesman theorem, tableau representation and frame representation. The runtime of simulating stabilizer gates is obtained by applying stabilizer matrices. Furthermore, an algorithm for updating global phases is given. Resolution of quantum channels into stabilizer channels is shown. We discuss capacity achieving codes to obtain the capacity of the quantum erasure channel. Finally, we discuss the shadow tomography problem and an algorithm for constructing classical shadow is given.
This thesis deals with methods of the detection of entanglement.After recalling some facts and definitions concerning entanglement and separability, we investigate two methods of the detection of entanglement.In the first part of this thesis we consider so-called entanglement witnesses, mainly in view of the detection of multipartite entanglement.Entanglement witnesses are observables for which a negative expectation value indicates entanglement.We first present a simple method to construct these witnesses.Since witnesses are nonlocal observables, they are not easy to measure in a real experiment.However, as we will show, one can circumvent this problem by decomposing the witness into several local observables which can be measured separately.We calculate the local decompositions for several interesting witnesses for two, three and four qubits.Local decompositions can be optimized in the number of measurement settings which are needed for an experimental implementation.We present a method to prove that a given local decomposition is optimal and discuss with this the optimality of our decompositions.Then we present another method of designing witnesses which are by construction measurable with local measurements.Finally, we shortly report on experiments where some of the witnesses derived in this part have been used to detect three-and four-partite entanglement of polarized photons.The second part of this thesis deals with separability criteria which are written in terms of uncertainty relations.There are two different formulations of uncertainty relations since one can measure the uncertainty of an observable by its variance as well as by entropic quantities.We show that both formulations are useful tools for the derivation of separability criteria for finite-dimensional systems and investigate the resulting criteria.Our results in this part exhibit also some more fundamental properties of entanglement: We show how known separability criteria for infinitedimensional systems can be translated to finite-dimensional systems.Furthermore, we prove that any entropic uncertainty relation on one part of the system gives rise to a separability criterion on the composite system.
We present entanglement witness operators for detecting genuine multipartite entanglement. These witnesses are robust against noise and require only two local measurement settings when used in an experiment, independent of the number of qubits. This allows detection of entanglement for an increasing number of parties without a corresponding increase in effort. The witnesses presented detect states close to Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger, cluster, and graph states. Connections to Bell inequalities are also discussed.
Abstract Genuine multipartite entanglement (GME) is arguably the most valuable form of entanglement in the multipartite case with application for instance in quantum metrology. In order to detect that form of entanglement in multipartite quantum states, one typically uses entanglement witnesses. The aim of this paper is to generalize the results of Tóth and Gühne (2005 Phys. Rev. A 72 022340) in order to provide a construction of witnesses of GME tailored to entangled subspaces originating from the multi-qudit stabilizer formalism—a framework well known for its role in quantum error correction, which also provides a very convenient description of a broad class of entangled multipartite states (both pure and mixed). Our construction includes graph states of arbitrary local dimension. We then show that in certain situations, the obtained witnesses detecting GME in quantum systems of higher local dimension are superior in terms of noise robustness to those derived for multiqubit states.
Entanglement is a central concept in quantum information and a key resource for many quantum protocols. In this work we propose and analyze a class of entanglement witnesses that detect the presence of entanglement in subsystems of experimental multiqubit stabilizer states. The witnesses we propose can be decomposed into sums of Pauli operators and can be efficiently evaluated by either two measurement settings only or at most a number of measurements that only depends on the size of the subsystem of interest. We provide two constructive methods to design the local witness operators, the first one based on the local unitary equivalence between graph and stabilizer states, and the second one based on sufficient and necessary conditions that the respective set of constituent Pauli operators needs to fulfill. We theoretically establish the noise tolerance of the proposed witnesses and benchmark their practical performance by analyzing the local entanglement structure of an experimental seven-qubit quantum error correction code.
Quantum entanglement, as an indispensable resource in quantum communication and quantum computation, is widely used in the field of quantum information. However, people's understanding on entanglement is quite limited both theoretically and experimentally. How to determine whether a given quantum state is entangled is still an important task. The entanglement witness is a kind of special self-adjoint operator, it can be used to determine whether a quantum state is an entangled state. This provides a new direction for the determination of entangled states. Entanglement witness has its own unique characteristics in various kinds of entanglement criterion. It is the most effective tool for detecting multipartite entanglement, and the most useful method to detect entanglement in experiments. In the background of quantum theory, we use theory of operators to make a thorough and systematic study of the construction of entanglement witness in this paper. First, from the definition of an entanglement witness, a general method is given to construct an entanglement witness. It is proved that when the maximal expectation CA of an observable A in the separable pure states is strictly less than its biggest eigenvalue max(A), the operator WC=CI-A is an entanglement witness provided that CA C max(A). Although the entanglement witness WCA can detect more entangled states than WC, but it is difficult to calculate the exact value of CA, and the estimate of the upper bound of CA is easier. Therefore, it is more convenient to construct entanglement witness WC than WCA. In quantum computation, a graph state is a special kind of multi-qubit state that can be represented by a graph. Each qubit is represented by a vertex of the graph, and there is an edge between every interacting pair of qubits. Graph states play a crucial role in many applications of quantum information theory, such as quantum error correcting codes, measurement-based quantum computation, and quantum simulation. Consequently, a significant effort is devoted to the creation and investigation of graph states. In the last part of this paper, as applications of our method, a series of methods for constructing an entanglement witness is obtained in the stabilizer formalism. It is also proved that how entanglement witnesses can be derived for a given graph state, provided some stabilizing operators of the graph state are known. Especially, when A is made up of some stabilizing operators of a graph state, entanglement witness WCA becomes one in literature.