Reexamination of determinant-based separability test for two qubits

It was shown in [Augusiak et al.,\;Phys. Rev. A \textbf{77}, 030301(R) (2008)] that discrimination between entanglement and separability in a two qubit state can be achieved by a measurement of a single observable on four copies of it. Moreover, a pseudo entanglement monotone $\pi$ was proposed to quantify entanglement in such states. The main goal of the present paper is to show that close relationship between $\pi$ and concurrence reported there is a result of sharing the same underlying construction of a spin flipped matrix. We also show that monogamy of entanglement can be rephrased in terms of $\pi$ and prove the factorization law for $\pi$.Comment: improved v3, journal ref. adde

Universal observable detecting all two-qubit entanglement and determinant based separability tests

We construct a single observable measurement of which mean value on four copies of an {\it unknown} two-qubit state is sufficient for unambiguous decision whether the state is separable or entangled. In other words, there exists a universal collective entanglement witness detecting all two-qubit entanglement. The test is directly linked to a function which characterizes to some extent the entanglement quantitatively. This function is an entanglement monotone under so--called local pure operations and classical communication (pLOCC) which preserve local dimensions. Moreover it provides tight upper and lower bounds for negativity and concurrence. Elementary quantum computing device estimating unknown two-qubit entanglement is designed.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, one figure replaced by another, tight bounds on negativity and concurrence added, function proved to be a monotone under the pure LOCC, list of authors put in alphabetical orde

Entanglement, Purity, and Information Entropies in Continuous Variable Systems

Quantum entanglement of pure states of a bipartite system is defined as the amount of local or marginal ({\em i.e.}referring to the subsystems) entropy. For mixed states this identification vanishes, since the global loss of information about the state makes it impossible to distinguish between quantum and classical correlations. Here we show how the joint knowledge of the global and marginal degrees of information of a quantum state, quantified by the purities or in general by information entropies, provides an accurate characterization of its entanglement. In particular, for Gaussian states of continuous variable systems, we classify the entanglement of two--mode states according to their degree of total and partial mixedness, comparing the different roles played by the purity and the generalized $p-$entropies in quantifying the mixedness and bounding the entanglement. We prove the existence of strict upper and lower bounds on the entanglement and the existence of extremally (maximally and minimally) entangled states at fixed global and marginal degrees of information. This results allow for a powerful, operative method to measure mixed-state entanglement without the full tomographic reconstruction of the state. Finally, we briefly discuss the ongoing extension of our analysis to the quantification of multipartite entanglement in highly symmetric Gaussian states of arbitrary $1 \times N$-mode partitions.Comment: 16 pages, 5 low-res figures, OSID style. Presented at the International Conference ``Entanglement, Information and Noise'', Krzyzowa, Poland, June 14--20, 200

Group transference techniques for the estimation of the decoherence times and capacities of quantum Markov semigroups

Capacities of quantum channels and decoherence times both quantify the extent to which quantum information can withstand degradation by interactions with its environment. However, calculating capacities directly is known to be intractable in general. Much recent work has focused on upper bounding certain capacities in terms of more tractable quantities such as specific norms from operator theory. In the meantime, there has also been substantial recent progress on estimating decoherence times with techniques from analysis and geometry, even though many hard questions remain open. In this article, we introduce a class of continuous-time quantum channels that we called transferred channels, which are built through representation theory from a classical Markov kernel defined on a compact group. We study two subclasses of such kernels: H\"ormander systems on compact Lie-groups and Markov chains on finite groups. Examples of transferred channels include the depolarizing channel, the dephasing channel, and collective decoherence channels acting on $d$ qubits. Some of the estimates presented are new, such as those for channels that randomly swap subsystems. We then extend tools developed in earlier work by Gao, Junge and LaRacuente to transfer estimates of the classical Markov kernel to the transferred channels and study in this way different non-commutative functional inequalities. The main contribution of this article is the application of this transference principle to the estimation of various capacities as well as estimation of entanglement breaking times, defined as the first time for which the channel becomes entanglement breaking. Moreover, our estimates hold for non-ergodic channels such as the collective decoherence channels, an important scenario that has been overlooked so far because of a lack of techniques.Comment: 35 pages, 2 figures. Close to published versio

Optimal estimation of entanglement and discord in two-qubit states

Recently, the fast development of quantum technologies led to the need for tools allowing the characterization of quantum resources. In particular, the ability to estimate non-classical aspects, e.g. entanglement and quantum discord, in two-qubit systems, is relevant to optimise the performance of quantum information processes. Here we present an experiment in which the amount of entanglement and discord are measured exploiting different estimators. Among them, some will prove to be optimal, i.e., able to reach the ultimate precision bound allowed by quantum mechanics. These estimation techniques have been tested with a specific family of states ranging from nearly pure Bell states to completely mixed states. This work represents a significant step in the development of reliable metrological tools for quantum technologies

Entanglement susceptibility: Area laws and beyond

Generic quantum states in the Hilbert space of a many body system are nearly maximally entangled whereas low energy physical states are not; the so-called area laws for quantum entanglement are widespread. In this paper we introduce the novel concept of entanglement susceptibility by expanding the 2-Renyi entropy in the boundary couplings. We show how this concept leads to the emergence of area laws for bi-partite quantum entanglement in systems ruled by local gapped Hamiltonians. Entanglement susceptibility also captures quantitatively which violations one should expect when the system becomes gapless. We also discuss an exact series expansion of the 2-Renyi entanglement entropy in terms of connected correlation functions of a boundary term. This is obtained by identifying Renyi entropy with ground state fidelity in a doubled and twisted theory.Comment: minor corrections, references adde