Robustness of Entanglement as a Resource

The robustness of multipartite entanglement of systems undergoing decoherence is of central importance to the area of quantum information. Its characterization depends however on the measure used to quantify entanglement and on how one partitions the system. Here we show that the unambiguous assessment of the robustness of multipartite entanglement is obtained by considering the loss of functionality in terms of two communication tasks, namely the splitting of information between many parties and the teleportation of states.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Unifying approach to the quantification of bipartite correlations by Bures distance

The notion of distance defined on the set of states of a composite quantum system can be used to quantify total, quantum and classical correlations in a unifying way. We provide new closed formulae for classical and total correlations of two-qubit Bell-diagonal states by considering the Bures distance. Complementing the known corresponding expressions for entanglement and more general quantum correlations, we thus complete the quantitative hierarchy of Bures correlations for Bell-diagonal states. We then explicitly calculate Bures correlations for two relevant families of states: Werner states and rank-2 Bell-diagonal states, highlighting the subadditivity which holds for total correlations with respect to the sum of classical and quantum ones when using Bures distance. Finally, we analyse a dynamical model of two independent qubits locally exposed to non-dissipative decoherence channels, where both quantum and classical correlations measured by Bures distance exhibit freezing phenomena, in analogy with other known quantifiers of correlations.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures; published versio

Quantum optics in the phase space - A tutorial on Gaussian states

In this tutorial, we introduce the basic concepts and mathematical tools needed for phase-space description of a very common class of states, whose phase properties are described by Gaussian Wigner functions: the Gaussian states. In particular, we address their manipulation, evolution and characterization in view of their application to quantum information.Comment: Tutorial. 23 pages, 1 figure. Updated version accepted for publication in EPJ - ST devoted to the memory of Federico Casagrand

Quantum Correlations, Chaos and Information

Quantum chaos is the study of quantum systems whose classical description is chaotic. How does chaos manifest itself in the quantum world? In this spirit, we study the dynamical generation of entanglement as a signature of chaos in a system of periodically kicked coupled-tops, where chaos and entanglement arise from the same physical mechanism. The long-time entanglement as a function of the position of an initially localized wave packet very closely correlates with the classical phase space surface of section - it is nearly uniform in the chaotic sea, and reproduces the detailed structure of the regular islands. The uniform value in the chaotic sea is explained by the random state conjecture. As classically chaotic dynamics take localized distributions in phase space to random distributions, quantized versions take localized coherent states to pseudo-random states in Hilbert space. Such random states are highly entangled, with an average value near that of the maximally entangled state. Continuing on our journey to find the footprints of chaos in the quantum world, we explore quantum signatures of classical chaos by studying the rate of information gain in quantum tomography. We find an increase in the rate of information gain and hence higher fidelities in the process when the Floquet maps employed increase in chaoticity. We make predictions for the information gain using random matrix theory in the fully chaotic regime and show a remarkable agreement between the two. The last part of this thesis is devoted to the study of the nature of quantum correlations themselves. We present an operational interpretation of quantum discord based on the quantum state merging protocol. Quantum discord is the markup in the cost of quantum communication in the process of quantum state merging, if one discards relevant prior information.Comment: Dissertatio