Are all maximally entangled states pure?

We study if all maximally entangled states are pure through several entanglement monotones. In the bipartite case, we find that the same conditions which lead to the uniqueness of the entropy of entanglement as a measure of entanglement, exclude the existence of maximally mixed entangled states. In the multipartite scenario, our conclusions allow us to generalize the idea of monogamy of entanglement: we establish the \textit{polygamy of entanglement}, expressing that if a general state is maximally entangled with respect to some kind of multipartite entanglement, then it is necessarily factorized of any other system.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Proof of theorem 3 corrected e new results concerning the asymptotic regime include

Schmidt balls around the identity

Robustness measures as introduced by Vidal and Tarrach [PRA, 59, 141-155] quantify the extent to which entangled states remain entangled under mixing. Analogously, we introduce here the Schmidt robustness and the random Schmidt robustness. The latter notion is closely related to the construction of Schmidt balls around the identity. We analyse the situation for pure states and provide non-trivial upper and lower bounds. Upper bounds to the random Schmidt-2 robustness allow us to construct a particularly simple distillability criterion. We present two conjectures, the first one is related to the radius of inner balls around the identity in the convex set of Schmidt number n-states. We also conjecture a class of optimal Schmidt witnesses for pure states.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Reflections upon separability and distillability

We present an abstract formulation of the so-called Innsbruck-Hannover programme that investigates quantum correlations and entanglement in terms of convex sets. We present a unified description of optimal decompositions of quantum states and the optimization of witness operators that detect whether a given state belongs to a given convex set. We illustrate the abstract formulation with several examples, and discuss relations between optimal entanglement witnesses and n-copy non-distillable states with non-positive partial transpose.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, proceedings of the ESF QIT Conference Gdansk, July 2001, submitted to special issue of J. Mod. Op

Separable approximation for mixed states of composite quantum systems

We describe a purely algebraic method for finding the best separable approximation to a mixed state of a composite 2x2 quantum system, consisting of a decomposition of the state into a linear combination of a mixed separable part and a pure entangled one. We prove that, in a generic case, the weight of the pure part in the decomposition equals the concurrence of the state.Comment: 13 pages, no figures; minor changes; accepted for publication in PR

Separability in 2xN composite quantum systems

We analyze the separability properties of density operators supported on \C^2\otimes \C^N whose partial transposes are positive operators. We show that if the rank of $\rho$ equals N then it is separable, and that bound entangled states have rank larger than N. We also give a separability criterion for a generic density operator such that the sum of its rank and the one of its partial transpose does not exceed 3N. If it exceeds this number we show that one can subtract product vectors until decreasing it to 3N, while keeping the positivity of $\rho$ and its partial transpose. This automatically gives us a sufficient criterion for separability for general density operators. We also prove that all density operators that remain invariant after partial transposition with respect to the first system are separable.Comment: Extended version of quant-ph/9903012 with new results. 11 page

Optimal Lewenstein-Sanpera Decomposition for some Biparatite Systems

It is shown that for a given bipartite density matrix and by choosing a suitable separable set (instead of product set) on the separable-entangled boundary, optimal Lewenstein-Sanpera (L-S) decomposition can be obtained via optimization for a generic entangled density matrix. Based on this, We obtain optimal L-S decomposition for some bipartite systems such as $2\otimes 2$ and $2\otimes 3$ Bell decomposable states, generic two qubit state in Wootters basis, iso-concurrence decomposable states, states obtained from BD states via one parameter and three parameters local operations and classical communications (LOCC), $d\otimes d$ Werner and isotropic states, and a one parameter $3\otimes 3$ state. We also obtain the optimal decomposition for multi partite isotropic state. It is shown that in all $2\otimes 2$ systems considered here the average concurrence of the decomposition is equal to the concurrence. We also show that for some $2\otimes 3$ Bell decomposable states the average concurrence of the decomposition is equal to the lower bound of the concurrence of state presented recently in [Buchleitner et al, quant-ph/0302144], so an exact expression for concurrence of these states is obtained. It is also shown that for $d\otimes d$ isotropic state where decomposition leads to a separable and an entangled pure state, the average I-concurrence of the decomposition is equal to the I-concurrence of the state. Keywords: Quantum entanglement, Optimal Lewenstein-Sanpera decomposition, Concurrence, Bell decomposable states, LOCC} PACS Index: 03.65.UdComment: 31 pages, Late

Separable approximations of density matrices of composite quantum systems

We investigate optimal separable approximations (decompositions) of states rho of bipartite quantum systems A and B of arbitrary dimensions MxN following the lines of Ref. [M. Lewenstein and A. Sanpera, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2261 (1998)]. Such approximations allow to represent in an optimal way any density operator as a sum of a separable state and an entangled state of a certain form. For two qubit systems (M=N=2) the best separable approximation has a form of a mixture of a separable state and a projector onto a pure entangled state. We formulate a necessary condition that the pure state in the best separable approximation is not maximally entangled. We demonstrate that the weight of the entangled state in the best separable approximation in arbitrary dimensions provides a good entanglement measure. We prove in general for arbitrary M and N that the best separable approximation corresponds to a mixture of a separable and an entangled state which are both unique. We develop also a theory of optimal separable approximations for states with positive partial transpose (PPT states). Such approximations allow to decompose any density operator with positive partial transpose as a sum of a separable state and an entangled PPT state. We discuss procedures of constructing such decompositions.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Separability and entanglement in 2x3xN composite quantum systems

The separability and entanglement of quantum mixed states in \Cb^2 \otimes \Cb^3 \otimes \Cb^N composite quantum systems are investigated. It is shown that all quantum states $\rho$ with positive partial transposes and rank $r(\rho)\leq N$ are separable.Comment: Latex, 15 page