Nonexistence of entangled continuous-variable Werner states with positive partial transpose

We show that the maximum fidelity obtained by a positive partial transpose (p.p.t.) distillation protocol is given by the solution to a certain semidefinite program. This gives a number of new lower and upper bounds on p.p.t. distillable entanglement (and thus new upper bounds on 2-locally distillable entanglement). In the presence of symmetry, the semidefinite program simplifies considerably, becoming a linear program in the case of isotropic and Werner states. Using these techniques, we determine the p.p.t. distillable entanglement of asymmetric Werner states and maximally correlated states. We conclude with a discussion of possible applications of semidefinite programming to quantum codes and 1-local distillation.

Using the single-mode approximation we study the quantum correlations of a free Dirac field on the Werner state in the noninertial frame. We present analytical quantum discord D and its geometric measurement DG. We notice that the quantum discord still exists for the system ρARI even in the acceleration limit. We also calculate the entanglement of formation (EOF) and the geometric measure of entanglement (EG) to compare the behaviors of the entanglement with the quantum discord. The entanglement is nonzero for the fidelity of the Werner state with a Bell state F > 0.5, while the quantum discord is equal to zero only for F = 0.25. We also observe that the quantum discord is more robust to the change of acceleration than the entanglement, which is more sensitive to the acceleration.

Werner derivatives are a special kind of mixing states transformed from Werner states by unitary operations (Hiroshima and Ishizaka in Phys Rev A 62:044302, 2000). In this paper, the inherent quantum correlations in Werner derivatives are quantified by two different quantifiers, i.e., quantum discord and geometric discord. Different analytic expressions of the two discords in Werner derivatives are derived out. Some distinct features of the discords and their underlying physics are exposed via discussions and analyses. Moreover, it is found that the amount of quantum correlations quantified by either quantifier in each derivative cannot exceed that in the original Werner state. In other words, no unitary operation can increase quantum correlation in a Werner state as far as the two quantifiers are concerned.

The quantum discord originally defined in terms of von Neumann entropy has been widely applied to various quantum systems. In this paper, using Renyi entropy, we propose another kind of quantum discords, where the discord recently defined in terms of Tsallis entropy is considered for comparison. Numerical simulations and explicit expressions of these discords are given for random two-qubit states, a class of two-qutrit state, and Werner state and isotropic state in arbitrary dimensions. It is shown that Renyi entropic discord is suitable to capture quantum correlations. In particular, for some quantum states Tsallis entropic discord can be negative. These shed new light on the understanding of the generalized discords in high-dimensional mixed states.

We introduce a simple and efficient technique to verify quantum discord in unknown Gaussian states and certain class of non-Gaussian states. We show that any separation in the peaks of the marginal distributions of one subsystem conditioned on two different outcomes of homodyne measurements performed on the other subsystem indicates correlation between the corresponding quadratures and hence nonzero quantum discord. We also demonstrate that under certain measurement constraints, discord between bipartite systems can be consumed to encode information that can only be accessed by coherent quantum interaction.

Simulating the effect of weak measurements by a phase damping channel and determining different measures of bipartite correlations in nuclear magnetic resonance

EPR steering is an asymmetric form of correlations which is intermediate between quantum entanglement and Bell nonlocality, and can be exploited for quantum communication with one untrusted party. In particular, steering of continuous variable Gaussian states has been extensively studied as a manifestation of the EPR paradox. While most of these studies focused on quadrature measurements for steering detection, two recent works revealed that there exist Gaussian states which are only steerable by non-Gaussian measurements. In this paper we perform a systematic investigation of EPR steering of bipartite Gaussian states by pseudospin measurements, complementing and extending previous findings. We first derive the density matrix elements of two-mode squeezed thermal states in the Fock basis, which may be of independent interest. We then use such a representation to investigate steering of these states as detected by a nonlinear criterion, based on second moments of the pseudospin correlation matrix. This analysis reveals previously unexplored regimes where non-Gaussian measurements are more effective than Gaussian ones to witness steering of Gaussian states in the presence of local noise. We further consider an alternative set of pseudospin observables, whose expectation value can be expressed compactly in terms of Wigner functions for all two-mode Gaussian states. However, according to the adopted criterion, these observables are found to be always less sensitive than Gaussian observables for steering detection. Finally, we investigate continuous variable Werner states, which are non-Gaussian mixtures of Gaussian states, and find that pseudospin measurements are always more effective than Gaussian ones to reveal their steerability. Our results provide useful insights on the role of non-Gaussian measurements in characterizing quantum correlations of Gaussian and non-Gaussian states.

Quantum correlations of a qutrit pair in Werner states undergoing local and nonlocal unitary operations are quantified in terms of two different methods, i.e., quantum discord (Ollivier and Zurek in Phys Rev Lett 88:017901, 2001) and measurement-induced disturbance (Luo in Phys Rev A 77:022301, 2008). Analytic expressions of the two kinds of quantum correlations in the system are worked on and found to be completely the same. By virtue of investigations and discussions, we expose some distinct features of the correlations and their underlying physics. More importantly, we found that both local and nonlocal unitary operations cannot increase quantum correlation in a qutrit Werner state for the two quantifiers which are concerned.

Quantum systems in mixed states can be unentangled and yet still nonclassically correlated. These correlations can be quantified by the quantum discord and might provide a resource for quantum information processing tasks. By precisely controlling the interaction of two ionic qubits with their environment, we investigate the capability of noise to generate discord. Firstly, we show that noise acting on only one quantum system can generate discord between two. States generated in this way are restricted in terms of the rank of their correlation matrix. Secondly, we show that classically correlated noise processes are capable of generating a much broader range of discordant states with correlation matrices of any rank. Our results show that noise processes prevalent in many physical systems can automatically generate nonclassical correlations and highlight fundamental differences between discord and entanglement.

In recent years, the great progress of studying the quantum entanglement has been made. In the field of optics, the great success has been achieved in quantum entanglement theory and technology. Then researchers concentrate on the microwave frequency band whose frequency is lower than that of optical frequency band. The signal in the microwave frequency band has a longer wavelength, and it has the diffraction capability that the optical signal does not possess. Furthermore, it can spread further in complex environments. Now it is possible to experimentally produce squeezed state of microwave signals and spatially separated path-entangled microwave signals. It is an important issue to judge whether the microwave signals received through dual paths are in entanglement state. In this paper, we firstly introduce the method of using squeezed state of microwave and microwave beam splitter to prepare path-entangled microwave signals. Then we use entanglement witness method to detect entanglement. Through constructing the entanglement witness operator in path-entangled microwave signals, the entanglement of path-entangled microwave signals can be effectively detected. We decompose the expression of the continuous variables path-entangled microwave signals into a large number of 2 2 entangled superposition states, deduce an entangled witness operator of path-entangled microwave signals based on the principle of partial transpose criterion and entanglement witnessing, and prove that the entangled witness can be used to detect the path-entangled microwave signals. Finally, we propose a physical verification of path-entangled microwave signal entanglement. The verification can be realized as follows:firstly, we reverse the phase of a received quantum-state microwave signal by utilizing continuous variable controlled phase gate in a range of 0-, then we send two microwave signals into the two input ports of the microwave beam splitter, and we operate coincidence counting of microwave photons on the two output ports after entanglement microwave signals have passed through the microwave splitter. By analyzing the results of the whole process, we have the following conclusions:if the coincidence rate of two input signals is higher than that of non-entangled microwave signals under the same power, signals can be counted as entanglement. The proposed method can detect the entangled microwave signals more efficiently than the conventional methods, such as quantum state reconstruction, and thus reduce the detection and computational complexity. The entanglement of the two microwave quantum state signals can be observed directly by using this method. This paper provides a new idea for detecting the path-entangled microwave signals.

We study the dynamics of quantum entanglement and quantum discord between two non-interacting qubits, which couple with two independent spin baths, obeying the XXZ Hamiltonian. After the Holstein-Primakoff transformation, one could reduce the spin bath to a single-mode bosonic bath field. Then we use this model to study the entanglement and discord dynamics of two qubits in their corresponding spin bath. For the initial Werner state, it is indicated that both entanglement and quantum discord exhibit death and revival behavior, while the quantum correlations change more smaller.

Positivity of the density operator reflects itself in terms of sequences of inequalities on observable moments. Uncertainty relations for noncommuting observables form a subset of these inequalities. In addition, criterion of positivity under partial transposition (PPT) imposes distinct bounds on moments, violations of which signal entanglement. We present bounds on some sets of composite moments, consequent to positive partial transposition of the density operator and report their violation by entangled multiqubit states. In particular, we derive separability bounds on a multiqubit moment matrix (based on PPT constraints on bipartite divisions of the density matrix) and show that three-qubit pure states with nonzero tangle violate these PPT moment constraints. Further, we recover a necessary and sufficient condition of separability in a multiqubit Werner state through PPT bounds on moments.

The task of testing whether two uncharacterized quantum devices behave in the same way is crucial for benchmarking near-term quantum computers and quantum simulators, but has so far remained open for continuous variable quantum systems. In this Letter, we develop a machine learning algorithm for comparing unknown continuous variable states using limited and noisy data. The algorithm works on non-Gaussian quantum states for which similarity testing could not be achieved with previous techniques. Our approach is based on a convolutional neural network that assesses the similarity of quantum states based on a lower-dimensional state representation built from measurement data. The network can be trained off-line with classically simulated data from a fiducial set of states sharing structural similarities with the states to be tested, with experimental data generated by measurements on the fiducial states, or with a combination of simulated and experimental data. We test the performance of the model on noisy cat states and states generated by arbitrary selective number-dependent phase gates. Our network can also be applied to the problem of comparing continuous variable states across different experimental platforms, with different sets of achievable measurements, and to the problem of experimentally testing whether two states are equivalent up to Gaussian unitary transformations.

Graph states are the backbone of measurement-based continuous-variable quantum computation. However, experimental realizations of these states induce Gaussian measurement statistics for the field quadratures, which poses a barrier to obtain a genuine quantum advantage. In this Letter, we propose mode-selective photon addition and subtraction as viable and experimentally feasible pathways to introduce non-Gaussian features in such continuous-variable graph states. In particular, we investigate how the non-Gaussian properties spread among the vertices of the graph, which allows us to show the degree of control that is achievable in this approach.

We present a new method to entangle continuous variable (CV) states of certain parity and photonic states for the purpose of generating optical hybrid cluster (HC) states. To do it we introduce two families of the CV states of definite parity which stems from single mode squeezed vacuum (SMSV) state. Potential to apply the CV states of certain parity is high. We report on the generation of the even/odd Schrödinger cat state like (SCS-like) states whose fidelities with even/odd SCS of amplitude of 4.2 are more of 0.99, when 30,31 photons are detected in auxiliary mode of input SMSV state initially mixed with single photon. We show that the quantum efficiency of a photon number resolving (PNR) detector is crucial to maintaining the success rate of even/odd SCSs generator at an acceptable level. The scheme with delocalized photon implements deterministic imperfect entanglement operation between macro and micro states. We show that the beam splitter implements the two-qubits operation control-Z (CZ) for input CV states of definite parity and photonic states, provided that certain result is detected in measurement mode. An extension of the entangling operation for two entangled delocalized photons (TEDP) allows one to realize three-qubit HC state. Seven-qubit HC state is the result of conjunction of two three-qubit HC states through TEDP state.