Evaluation of convex roof entanglement measures

We show a powerful method to compute entanglement measures based on convex roof constructions. In particular, our method is applicable to measures that, for pure states, can be written as low order polynomials of operator expectation values. We show how to compute the linear entropy of entanglement, the linear entanglement of assistance, and a bound on the dimension of the entanglement for bipartite systems. We discuss how to obtain the convex roof of the three-tangle for three-qubit states. We also show how to calculate the linear entropy of entanglement and the quantum Fisher information based on partial information or device independent information. We demonstrate the usefulness of our method by concrete examplesComment: 6 pages including 3 figures, 6-page supplement with 2 figures, revtex4; v2: typos corrected, presentation improved, title shortened. For the CoRoNa MATLAB package for convex roof numerical analysis, which has been used for the manuscript, see http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/47823-corona-convex-roof-numerical-analysi

Bounding temporal quantum correlations

Sequential measurements on a single particle play an important role in fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. We provide a general method to analyze temporal quantum correlations, which allows us to compute the maximal correlations for sequential measurements in quantum mechanics. As an application, we present the full characterization of temporal correlations in the simplest Leggett-Garg scenario and in the sequential measurement scenario associated with the most fundamental proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Heralded qubit amplifiers for practical device-independent quantum key distribution

Device-independent quantum key distribution does not need a precise quantum mechanical model of employed devices to guarantee security. Despite of its beauty, it is still a very challenging experimental task. We compare a recent proposal by Gisin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 070501 (2010)] to close the detection loophole problem with that of a simpler quantum relay based on entanglement swapping with linear optics. Our full-mode analysis for both schemes confirms that, in contrast to recent beliefs, the second scheme can indeed provide a positive key rate which is even considerably higher than that of the first alternative. The resulting key rates and required detection efficiencies of approx. 95% for both schemes, however, strongly depend on the underlying security proof.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Entanglement verification with realistic measurement devices via squashing operations

Many protocols and experiments in quantum information science are described in terms of simple measurements on qubits. However, in a real implementation, the exact description is more difficult, and more complicated observables are used. The question arises whether a claim of entanglement in the simplified description still holds, if the difference between the realistic and simplified models is taken into account. We show that a positive entanglement statement remains valid if a certain positive linear map connecting the two descriptions--a so-called squashing operation--exists; then lower bounds on the amount of entanglement are also possible. We apply our results to polarization measurements of photons using only threshold detectors, and derive procedures under which multi-photon events can be neglected.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure