Coexistence in interval effect algebras

Motivated by the notion of coexistence of effect-valued observables, we give a characterization of coexistent subsets of interval effect algebras

Separability for lattice systems at high temperature

Equilibrium states of infinite extended lattice systems at high temperature are studied with respect to their entanglement. Two notions of separability are offered. They coincide for finite systems but differ for infinitely extended ones. It is shown that for lattice systems with localized interaction for high enough temperature there exists no local entanglement. Even more quasifree states at high temperature are also not distillably entangled for all local regions of arbitrary size. For continuous systems entanglement survives for all temperatures. In mean field theories it is possible, that local regions are not entangled but the entanglement is hidden in the fluctuation algebra

Bell inequality and common causal explanation in algebraic quantum field theory

Bell inequalities, understood as constraints between classical conditional probabilities, can be derived from a set of assumptions representing a common causal explanation of classical correlations. A similar derivation, however, is not known for Bell inequalities in algebraic quantum field theories establishing constraints for the expectation of specific linear combinations of projections in a quantum state. In the paper we address the question as to whether a 'common causal justification' of these non-classical Bell inequalities is possible. We will show that although the classical notion of common causal explanation can readily be generalized for the non-classical case, the Bell inequalities used in quantum theories cannot be derived from these non-classical common causes. Just the opposite is true: for a set of correlations there can be given a non-classical common causal explanation even if they violate the Bell inequalities. This shows that the range of common causal explanations in the non-classical case is wider than that restricted by the Bell inequalities

Bond dimension witnesses and the structure of homogeneous matrix product states

For the past twenty years, Matrix Product States (MPS) have been widely used in solid state physics to approximate the ground state of one-dimensional spin chains. In this paper, we study homogeneous MPS (hMPS), or MPS constructed via site-independent tensors and a boundary condition. Exploiting a connection with the theory of matrix algebras, we derive two structural properties shared by all hMPS, namely: a) there exist local operators which annihilate all hMPS of a given bond dimension; and b) there exist local operators which, when applied over any hMPS of a given bond dimension, decouple (cut) the particles where they act from the spin chain while at the same time join (glue) the two loose ends back again into a hMPS. Armed with these tools, we show how to systematically derive `bond dimension witnesses', or 2-local operators whose expectation value allows us to lower bound the bond dimension of the underlying hMPS. We extend some of these results to the ansatz of Projected Entangled Pairs States (PEPS). As a bonus, we use our insight on the structure of hMPS to: a) derive some theoretical limitations on the use of hMPS and hPEPS for ground state energy computations; b) show how to decrease the complexity and boost the speed of convergence of the semidefinite programming hierarchies described in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 020501 (2015)] for the characterization of finite-dimensional quantum correlations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Quantum. We still do not acknowledge support from the European Research Counci

Generalizations of entanglement based on coherent states and convex sets

Unentangled pure states on a bipartite system are exactly the coherent states with respect to the group of local transformations. What aspects of the study of entanglement are applicable to generalized coherent states? Conversely, what can be learned about entanglement from the well-studied theory of coherent states? With these questions in mind, we characterize unentangled pure states as extremal states when considered as linear functionals on the local Lie algebra. As a result, a relativized notion of purity emerges, showing that there is a close relationship between purity, coherence and (non-)entanglement. To a large extent, these concepts can be defined and studied in the even more general setting of convex cones of states. Based on the idea that entanglement is relative, we suggest considering these notions in the context of partially ordered families of Lie algebras or convex cones, such as those that arise naturally for multipartite systems. The study of entanglement includes notions of local operations and, for information-theoretic purposes, entanglement measures and ways of scaling systems to enable asymptotic developments. We propose ways in which these may be generalized to the Lie-algebraic setting, and to a lesser extent to the convex-cones setting. One of our original motivations for this program is to understand the role of entanglement-like concepts in condensed matter. We discuss how our work provides tools for analyzing the correlations involved in quantum phase transitions and other aspects of condensed-matter systems.Comment: 37 page

Entanglement between smeared field operators in the Klein-Gordon vacuum

Quantum field theory is the application of quantum physics to fields. It provides a theoretical framework widely used in particle physics and condensed matter physics. One of the most distinct features of quantum physics with respect to classical physics is entanglement or the existence of strong correlations between subsystems that can even be spacelike separated. In quantum fields, observables restricted to a region of space define a subsystem. While there are proofs on the existence of local observables that would allow a violation of Bell's inequalities in the vacuum states of quantum fields as well as some explicit but technically demanding schemes requiring an extreme fine-tuning of the interaction between the fields and detectors, an experimentally accessible entanglement witness for quantum fields is still missing. Here we introduce smeared field operators which allow reducing the vacuum to a system of two effective bosonic modes. The introduction of such collective observables is motivated by the fact that no physical probe has access to fields in single spatial (mathematical) points but rather smeared over finite volumes. We first give explicit collective observables whose correlations reveal vacuum entanglement in the Klein-Gordon field. We then show that the critical distance between the two regions of space above which two effective bosonic modes become separable is of the order of the Compton wavelength of the particle corresponding to the massive Klein-Gordon field.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure

Analysing and Comparing Encodability Criteria

Encodings or the proof of their absence are the main way to compare process calculi. To analyse the quality of encodings and to rule out trivial or meaningless encodings, they are augmented with quality criteria. There exists a bunch of different criteria and different variants of criteria in order to reason in different settings. This leads to incomparable results. Moreover it is not always clear whether the criteria used to obtain a result in a particular setting do indeed fit to this setting. We show how to formally reason about and compare encodability criteria by mapping them on requirements on a relation between source and target terms that is induced by the encoding function. In particular we analyse the common criteria full abstraction, operational correspondence, divergence reflection, success sensitiveness, and respect of barbs; e.g. we analyse the exact nature of the simulation relation (coupled simulation versus bisimulation) that is induced by different variants of operational correspondence. This way we reduce the problem of analysing or comparing encodability criteria to the better understood problem of comparing relations on processes.Comment: In Proceedings EXPRESS/SOS 2015, arXiv:1508.06347. The Isabelle/HOL source files, and a full proof document, are available in the Archive of Formal Proofs, at http://afp.sourceforge.net/entries/Encodability_Process_Calculi.shtm