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arXiv:quant-ph/9604005 · Physical Review Letters

Separability Criterion for Density Matrices

Asher Peres

Published Aug 19, 1996• 5,181 citations
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Abstract

A quantum system consisting of two subsystems is separable if its density matrix can be written as $\ensuremath{\rho}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\Sigma}{A}^{}{w}_{A}{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{A}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{\bigotimes}{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{A}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}},$ where ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{A}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ and ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{A}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}}$ are density matrices for the two subsystems, and the positive weights ${w}_{A}$ satisfy $\ensuremath{\Sigma}{w}_{A}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$. In this Letter, it is proved that a necessary condition for separability is that a matrix, obtained by partial transposition of \ensuremath{\rho}, has only non-negative eigenvalues. Some examples show that this criterion is more sensitive than Bell's inequality for detecting quantum inseparability.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.77.1413

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A quantum system consisting of two subsystems is separable if its density matrix can be written as \ensuremathρ=\ensuremathΣAwA\ensuremathρA\ensuremath′\ensuremath⨂\ensuremathρA\ensuremath′\ensuremath′,\ensuremath{\rho}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\Sigma}{A}^{}{w}_{A}{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{A}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{\bigotimes}{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{A}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}},\ensuremathρ=\ensuremathΣAwA​\ensuremathρA\ensuremath′​\ensuremath⨂\ensuremathρA\ensuremath′\ensuremath′​, where \ensuremathρA\ensuremath′{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{A}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremathρA\ensuremath′​ and \ensuremathρA\ensuremath′\ensuremath′{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{A}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremathρA\ensuremath′\ensuremath′​ are density matrices for the two subsystems, and the positive weights wA{w}_{A}wA​ satisfy \ensuremathΣwA=1\ensuremath{\Sigma}{w}_{A}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1\ensuremathΣwA​=1. In this Letter, it is proved that a necessary condition for separability is that a matrix, obtained by partial transposition of \ensuremath{\rho}, has only non-negative eigenvalues. Some examples show that this criterion is more sensitive than Bell's inequality for detecting quantum inseparability.
We introduce a separability criterion based on the positive map $\ensuremath{\Gamma}:\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\ensuremath{\rho}}(\mathrm{Tr}\ensuremath{\rho})\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\rho},$ where $\ensuremath{\rho}$ is a trace-class Hermitian operator. Any separable state is mapped by the tensor product of $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ and the identity into a non-negative operator, which provides a simple necessary condition for separability. This condition is generally not sufficient because it is vulnerable to the dilution of entanglement. In the special case where one subsystem is a quantum bit, $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ reduces to time reversal, so that this separability condition is equivalent to partial transposition. It is therefore also sufficient for $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2$ and $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}3$ systems. Finally, a simple connection between this map for two qubits and complex conjugation in the ``magic'' basis [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 5022 (1997)] is displayed.
The state of a quantum system, consisting of two distinct subsystems, is called separable if it can be prepared by two distant experimenters who receive instructions from a common source, via classical communication channels. A necessary condition is derived and is shown to be more sensitive than Bell's inequality for detecting quantum inseparability. Moreover, collective tests of Bell's inequality (namely, tests that involve several composite systems simultaneously) may sometimes lead to a violation of Bell's inequality, even if the latter is satisfied when each composite system is tested separately.
Recently, a new and powerful separability criterion was introduced in [O. Rudolph, quant-ph/0202121] and [Chen {\it et al.}, quant-ph/0205017]. Composing the main idea behind the above criterion and the necessary and sufficient condition in terms of positive maps, we provide a characterization of separable states by means of linear contractions. The latter need not be positive maps. We extend the idea to multipartite systems, and find that, somewhat suprisingly, partial realigment (unlike partial transposition) can detect genuinely triparite entanglement. We also show that for multipartite system any permutation of indices of density matrix leads to separability criterion.
The separability from spectrum problem asks for a characterization of the quantum states ρ ∈ Mm ⊗Mn with the property that UρU † is separable for all unitary matrices U. We provide evidence that ρ is separable from spectrum if and only if UρU † has positive partial transpose for all unitary matrices U. In particular, we show that many well-known separability criteria are unable to detect entanglement in any such state, including the range criterion, the realignment criterion, the Choi map and its generalizations, and the Breuer–Hall map. We also show that these two properties coincide for the families of isotropic and Werner states, and several eigenvalue results for entanglement witnesses are proved along the way that are of independent interest. 1
A necessary separability criterion that relates the structures of the total density matrix and its reductions is given. The method used is based on the realignment method [K. Chen and L. A. Wu, Quant. Inf. Comput. 3, 193 (2003)]. The separability criterion naturally generalizes the reduction separability criterion introduced independently in the previous work [M. Horodecki and P. Horodecki, Phys. Rev. A 59, 4206 (1999) and N. J. Cerf, C. Adami, and R. M. Gingrich, Phys. Rev. A 60, 898 (1999)]. In special cases, it recovers the previous reduction criterion and the recent generalized partial transposition criterion [K. Chen and L. A. Wu, Phys. Lett. A 306, 14 (2002)]. The criterion involves only simple matrix manipulations and can therefore be easily applied.