Non-local properties of symmetric two-qubit states are quantified in terms of a complete set of entanglement invariants. We prove that negative values of some of the invariants are signatures of quantum entanglement. This leads us to identify sufficient conditions for non-separability in terms of entanglement invariants. Non-local properties of two-qubit states extracted from (i) Dicke state (ii) state generated by one-axis twisting Hamiltonian, and (iii) one-dimensional Ising chain with nearest neighbour interaction are analyzed in terms of the invariants characterizing them.
We investigate a two-level spin system based anti-parity-time (anti-$\mathcal{PT}$)-symmetric qubit and study its decoherence as well as entanglement entropy properties. We compare our findings with that of the corresponding $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric and Hermitian qubits. First we consider the time-dependent Dyson map to find the exact analytical dynamics for a general non-Hermitian qubit system coupled with a bath, then we specialize it to the case of the anti-$\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric qubit. We find that the decoherence function for the anti-$\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric qubit decays slower than th…
The Majorana representation of symmetric N-qubit states is employed here to investigate how correlation information of the whole pure symmetric state gets imprinted in its parts. It is shown that reduced states of (N - 1) qubits uniquely specify the entire class of pure N qubit states containing two distinct spinors.
State tomography on qubit pairs is routinely carried out by measuring the two qubits separately, while one expects a higher efficiency from tomography with highly symmetric joint measurements of both qubits. Our numerical study of simulated experiments does not support such expectations.
For pure symmetric 3-qubit states there are only three algebraically independent entanglement measures; one choice is the pairwise concurrence $\mathcal C$, the 3-tangle $τ$, and the Kempe invariant $κ$. Using a canonical form for symmetric $N$-qubit states derived from their Majorana representation, we derive the explicit achievable region of triples $(\mathcal C,τ,κ)$.
We discuss a general physical mechanism for arbitrary control of the quantum states of multiple qubits in the symmetric Dicke subspace. The qubit-qubit coupling leads to unequal energy spacing in the symmetric Dicke subspace. This allows one to manipulate a prechosen transition with an external driving source, with other transitions remaining off-resonant. Any entangled state in the symmetric Dicke subspace can be created from the initial ground state by tuning the driving source. We illustrate the idea in cavity QED, but it should be applicable to other related systems.
We show that higher order inter-group covariances involving even number of qubits are necessarily positive semidefinite for N qubit separable states, which are completely symmetric under permutations of the qubits. This identification leads to a family of sufficient conditions of inseparability based on the negativity of 2kth order inter-group covariance matrices of symmetric N-qubit systems. These conditions have a simple structure and detect entanglement in all even partitions of the symmetric multiqubit system. The observables involved are feasible experimental quantities and do not demand …
We solve the entanglement classification under stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC) for all multipartite symmetric states in the general $N$-qubit case. For this purpose, we introduce 2 parameters playing a crucial role, namely the \emph{diversity degree} and the \emph{degeneracy configuration} of a symmetric state. Those parameters give rise to a simple method of identifying operational families of SLOCC entanglement classes of all symmetric $N$-qubit states, where the number of families grows as the partition function of the number of qubits.
We study the asymptotic entanglement of three identical qubits under the action of a Markovian open system dynamics that does not distinguish them. We show that by adding a completely depolarized qubit to a special class of two qubit states, by letting them reach the asymptotic state and by finally eliminating the added qubit, can provide more entanglement than by direct immersion of the two qubits within the same environment.
Recently, several schemes for the experimental creation of Dicke states were described. In this paper, we show that all the $n$-qubit symmetric Dicke states with $l$ ($2\leq l\leq (n-2)$) excitations are inequivalent to the $% |GHZ>$ state or the $|W>$ state under SLOCC, that the even $n$% -qubit symmetric Dicke state with $n/2$ excitations is inequivalent to any even $n$-qubit symmetric Dicke state with $l\neq n/2$ excitations under SLOCC, and that all the $n$-qubit symmetric Dicke states with $l$ ($2\leq l\leq (n-2)$) excitations satisfy Coffman, Kundu and Wootters' generalized monogamy ineq…
We study the interconversion of multipartite symmetric $N$-qubit states under stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC). We demonstrate that if two symmetric states can be connected with a nonsymmetric invertible local operation (ILO), then they belong necessarily to the separable, W, or GHZ entanglement class, establishing a practical method of discriminating subsets of entanglement classes. Furthermore, we prove that there always exists a symmetric ILO connecting any pair of symmetric $N$-qubit states equivalent under SLOCC, simplifying the requirements for experimental…
Pairwise entanglement properties of a symmetric multi-qubit system are analyzed through a complete set of two-qubit local invariants. Collective features of entanglement, such as spin squeezing, are expressed in terms of invariants and a classifcation scheme for pairwise entanglement is proposed. The invariant criteria given here are shown to be related to the recently proposed (Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 120502 (2005)) generalized spin squeezing inequalities for pairwise entanglement in symmetric multi-qubit states.
We derive necessary and sufficient inseparability conditions imposed on the variance matrix of symmetric qubits. These constraints are identified by examining a structural parallelism between continuous variable states and two qubit states. Pairwise entangled symmetric multiqubit states are shown here to obey these constraints. We also bring out an elegant local invariant structure exhibited by our constraints.
Bidirectional quantum teleportation is a fundamental protocol for exchanging quantum information between two quantum nodes. All bidirectional quantum teleportation protocols till now have achieved a maximum efficiency of $40\%$. Here, we propose a new scheme for symmetric bidirectional quantum teleportation using a six-qubit cluster state as the quantum channel, for symmetric ($3\leftrightarrow3$) qubit bidirectional quantum teleportation of a special three-qubit entangled state. The novelty of our scheme lies in its generalization for ($N\leftrightarrow N$) qubit bidirectional quantum telepor…
Majorana Representation (MR) of symmetric $ N $-qubit pure states has been used successfully in entanglement classification. Generalization of this has been a long standing open problem due to the difficulties faced in the construction of a Majorana like geometric representation for symmetric mixed state. We have overcome this problem by developing a method of classifying local unitary (LU) equivalent classes of symmetric $N$-qubit mixed states based on the geometrical Multiaxial Representation (MAR) of the density matrix. In addition to the two parameters defined for the entanglement classifi…
A novel use of Majorana geometric representation brings out distinct entanglement families of permutation symmetric states of qubits. The paradigmatic W and GHZ (Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger) states of three qubits respectively contain two and three independent Majorana spinors. Another unique state with three distinct Majorana spinors -- constructed through a permutation symmetric superposition of two up qubits and one down qubit (W state) and its obverse state Wbar) exhibits genuine three-party entanglement, which is robust under loss of a qubit. While the GHZ state has irreducible correlatio…
Similar to the three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) symmetry we explore the four-qubit GHZ symmetry group and its subgroup called restricted GHZ symmetry group. While the set of symmetric states under the whole group transformation is represented by three real parameters, the set of symmetric states under the subgroup transformation is represented by two real parameters. After comparing the symmetric states for whole and subgroup, the entanglement is examined for the latter set. It is shown that the set has only two SLOCC classes, $L_{abc_2}$ and $G_{abcd}$. Extension to the multi-qub…
We investigate the decoherence in a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric qubit coupled with a bosonic bath. Using cannonical transformations, we map the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian representing the$\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric qubit to a spin boson model. Identifying the parameter α that demarcates the hermiticity and non-hermiticity in the model, we show that the qubit does not decohere at the transition from real eigen spectrum to complex eigen spectrum. Using a general class of spectral densities, the strong suppression of decoherence is observed due to both vaccum and thermal fluctuations of the bath, and in…
Two-mode cavities can be prepared in quantum states which represent symmetric multi-qubit states. However, the qubits are impossible to address individually and as such cannot be independently measured or otherwise manipulated. We propose two related schemes to coherently transfer the qubits which the cavity state represents onto individual atoms, so that the qubits can then be processed individually. In particular, our scheme can be combined with the quantum cloning scheme of Simon and coworkers [C. Simon et al, PRL 84, 2993 (2000)] to allow the optimal clones which their scheme produces to b…
Study of an N qubit mixed symmetric separable states is a long standing challenging problem as there exist no unique separability criterion. In this regard, we take up the N-qubit mixed symmetric separable states for a detailed study as these states are of experimental importance and offer elegant mathematical analysis since the dimension of the Hilbert space reduces from 2^N to N + 1. Since there exists a one to one correspondence between spin-j system and an N-qubit symmetric state, we employ Fano statistical tensor parameters for the parametrization of spin density matrix. Further, we use g…
We prove that the vast majority of symmetric states of qubits can be decomposed in a unique way into a superposition of spin 1/2 coherent states. For the case of two qubits, the proposed decomposition reproduces the Schmidt decomposition and therefore, in the case of a higher number of qubits, can be considered as its generalization. We analyze the geometrical aspects of the proposed representation and its invariant properties under the action of local unitary and local invertible transformations. As an application, we identify the most general classes of entanglement and representative states…
We explore nonlocality of three-qubit pure symmetric states shared between Alice, Bob and Charlie using the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality. We make use of the elegant parametrization in the canonical form of these states, proposed by Meill and Meyer (Phys. Rev. A, 96, 062310 (2017)) based on Majorana geometric representation. The reduced two-qubit states, extracted from an arbitrary pure entangled symmetric three-qubit state do not violate the CHSH inequality and hence they are CHSH-local. However, when Alice and Bob perform a CHSH test, after conditioning over measurement result…
The concurrence, a quantitative measure of the entanglement between a pair of particles, is determined for the case where the pair is extracted from a symmetric state of N two-level systems. Examples are given for both pure and mixed states of the N-particle system, and for a pair extracted from two ensembles with correlated collective spins.
We show that the pure entangled three-qubit symmetric states which are inequivalent under stochastic local operations and classcial communication (SLOCC) exhibit distinct geometric representation in terms of a spheroid inscribed within the Bloch sphere. We provide detailed analysis of the SLOCC canonical forms of the reduced two-qubit states extracted from entangled three-qubit pure symmetric states. Based on the Lorentz canonical forms of these states we arrive at two different geometrical representations: (i) a prolate spheroid centered at the origin of the Bloch sphere -- with longest semia…
We present general numerical methods to construct witness operators for entanglement detection and estimation of the fidelity. Our methods are applied to detecting entanglement in the vicinity of a six-qubit Dicke state with three excitations and also to further entangled symmetric states. All our witnesses are designed to keep the measurement effort small. We present also general results on the efficient local decomposition of permutationally invariant operators, which makes it possible to measure projectors to symmetric states efficiently
Density matrix for N-qubit symmetric state or spin-j state (j = N/2) is expressed in terms of the well known Fano statistical tensor parameters. Employing the multiaxial representation [1], wherein a spin-j density matrix is shown to be characterized by j(2j+1) axes and 2j real scalars, we enumerate the number of invariants constructed out of these axes and scalars. These invariants are explicitly calculated in the particular case of pure as well as mixed spin-1 state.
Quantum entanglement cannot be unlimitedly shared among arbitrary number of qubits. Larger the number of entangled pairs in an N-qubit system, smaller the degree of bi-partite entanglement is. We analyze a system of N qubits in which an arbitrary pair of particles is entangled. We show that the maximum degree of entanglement (measured in the concurrence) between any pair of qubits is 2/N. This tight bound can be achieved when the qubits are prepared in a pure symmetric (with respect to permutations) state with just one qubit in the basis state |0> and the others in the basis state |1>.
We generalize the symmetric multi-qubit states to their q-analogs, whose basis vectors are identified with the q-Dicke states. We study the entanglement entropy in these states and find that entanglement is extruded towards certain regions of the system due to the inhomogeneity aroused by q-deformation. We also calculate entanglement entropy in ground states of a related q-deformed Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model and show that the singularities of entanglement can correctly signify the quantum phase transition points for different strengths of q-deformation.
We introduce an operational entanglement classification of symmetric mixed states for an arbitrary number of qubits based on stochastic local operations assisted with classical communication (SLOCC operations). We define families of SLOCC entanglement classes successively embedded into each other, we prove that they are of non-zero measure, and we construct witness operators to distinguish them. Moreover, we discuss how arbitrary symmetric mixed states can be realized in the lab via a one-to-one correspondence between well-defined sets of controllable parameters and the corresponding entanglem…
We propose a method for generating all symmetric Dicke states, either in the long-lived internal levels of N massive particles or in the polarization degrees of freedom of photonic qubits, using linear optical tools only. By means of a suitable multiphoton detection technique, erasing Welcher-Weg information, our proposed scheme allows the generation and measurement of an important class of entangled multiqubit states.
We propose an experiment that realizes a symmetric informationally complete (SIC) probability-operator measurement (POM) in the four-dimensional Hilbert space of a qubit pair. The qubit pair is carried by a single photon as a polarization qubit and a path qubit. The implementation of the SIC POM is accomplished with the means of linear optics. The experimental scheme exploits a new approach to SIC POMs that uses a two-step process: a measurement with full-rank outcomes, followed by a projective measurement on a basis that is chosen in accordance with the result of the first measurement. The ba…
We solve the open question of the existence of four-qubit entangled symmetric states with positive partial transpositions (PPT states). We reach this goal with two different approaches. First, we propose a half-analytical-half-numerical method that allows to construct multipartite PPT entangled symmetric states (PPTESS) from the qubit-qudit PPT entangled states. Second, we adapt the algorithm allowing to search for extremal elements in the convex set of bipartite PPT states [J. M. Leinaas, J. Myrheim, and E. Ovrum, Phys. Rev. A 76, 034304 (2007)] to the multipartite scenario. With its aid we s…
Consider an n qubit computational basis state corresponding to a bit string x, which has had an unknown local unitary applied to each qubit, and whose qubits have been reordered by an unknown permutation. We show that, given such a state with Hamming weight |x| at most n/2, it is possible to reconstruct |x| with success probability 1 - |x|/(n-|x|+1), and thus to compute any symmetric function of x. We give explicit algorithms for computing whether or not |x| is at least t for some t, and for computing the parity of x, and show that these are essentially optimal. These results can be seen as ge…
We consider a state discrimination problem which deals with settings of minimum-error and unambiguous discrimination systematically by introducing a margin for the probability of an incorrect guess. We analyze discrimination of three symmetric pure states of a qubit. The measurements are classified into three types, and one of the three types is optimal depending on the value of the error margin. The problem is formulated as one of semidefinite programming. Starting with the dual problem derived from the primal one, we analytically obtain the optimal success probability and the optimal measure…
We present experimental schemes that allow to study the entanglement classes of all symmetric states in multiqubit photonic systems. In addition to comparing the presented schemes in efficiency, we will highlight the relation between the entanglement properties of symmetric Dicke states and a recently proposed entanglement scheme for atoms. In analogy to the latter, we obtain a one-to-one correspondence between well-defined sets of experimental parameters and multiqubit entanglement classes inside the symmetric subspace of the photonic system.
The first characterization of mixed-state entanglement was achieved for two-qubit states in Werner's seminal work [Phys. Rev. A 40, 4277 (1989)]. A physically important extension of this result concerns mixtures of a pure entangled state (such as the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger [GHZ] state) and the completely unpolarized state. These mixed states serve as benchmark for the robustness of entanglement. They share the same symmetries as the GHZ state. We call such states GHZ-symmetric. Despite significant progress their multipartite entanglement properties have remained an open problem. Here we g…
Proposals for quantum computing using rotational states of polar molecules as qubits have previously considered only diatomic molecules. For these the Stark effect is second-order, so a sizable external electric field is required to produce the requisite dipole moments in the laboratory frame. Here we consider use of polar symmetric top molecules. These offer advantages resulting from a first-order Stark effect, which renders the effective dipole moments nearly independent of the field strength. That permits use of much lower external field strengths for addressing sites. Moreover, for a parti…
With a two step optimization method of entanglement witness, we analytically propose a set of necessary and sufficient entanglement criteria for four qubit symmetric Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) diagonal states. The criterion set contains four criteria. Two of them are linear with density matrix elements. The other two criteria are nonlinear with density matrix elements. The criterion set has a nest structure. A proper subset of the criteria is necessary and sufficient for the entanglement of a proper subset of the states. We illustrate the nest structure of criterion set with the general…
We introduce a new method of investigating qutrit nonclassicality by translating qutrit operators to symmetric two-qubit operators. We show that this procedure partially resolves the discrepancy between maximal qutrit entanglement and maximal nonclassicality of qutrit correlations. Namely we express Bell operators corresponding to qutrit Bell inequalities in terms of symmetric two-qubit operators, and analyze the maximal quantum violation of a given Bell inequality from the qubit perspective. As an example we show that the two-qutrit CGLMP(Collins-Gisin-Linden-Massar-Popescu) Bell inequality c…
We put forward a method of constructing discrete coherent states for n qubits. After establishing appropriate displacement operators, the coherent states appear as displaced versions of a fiducial vector that is fixed by imposing a number of natural symmetry requirements on its Q-function. Using these coherent states we establish a partial order in the discrete phase space, which allows us to picture some n-qubit states as apparent distributions. We also analyze correlations in terms of sums of squared Q-functions.
We investigate genuinely entangled $N$-qubit states with no $N$-partite correlations in the case of symmetric states. Using a tensor representation for mixed symmetric states, we obtain a simple characterization of the absence of $N$-partite correlations. We show that symmetric states with no $N$-partite correlations cannot exist for an even number of qubits. We fully identify the set of genuinely entangled symmetric states with no $N$-partite correlations in the case of three qubits, and in the case of rank-2 states. We present a general procedure to construct families for an arbitrary odd nu…
We present a comprehensive study of maximally entangled symmetric states of arbitrary numbers of qubits in the sense of the maximal mixedness of the one-qubit reduced density operator. A general criterion is provided to easily identify whether given symmetric states are maximally entangled in that respect or not. We show that these maximally entangled symmetric (MES) states are the only symmetric states for which the expectation value of the associated collective spin of the system vanishes, as well as in corollary the dipole moment of the Husimi function. We establish the link between this ki…
We classify, up to local unitary equivalence, local unitary stabilizer Lie algebras for symmetric mixed states into six classes. These include the stabilizer types of the Werner states, the GHZ state and its generalizations, and Dicke states. For all but the zero algebra, we classify entanglement types (local unitary equivalence classes) of symmetric mixed states that have those stabilizers. We make use of the identification of symmetric density matrices with polynomials in three variables with real coefficients and apply the representation theory of SO(3) on this space of polynomials.
We analyze bipartite quantum states that admit a symmetric extension. Any such state can be decomposed into a convex combination of states that allow a _pure_ symmetric extension. A necessary condition for a state to admit a pure symmetric extension is that the spectra of the local and global density matrices are equal. This condition is also sufficient for two qubits, but not for any larger systems. Using this condition we present a conjectured necessary and sufficient condition for a two qubit state to admit symmetric extension, which we prove in some special cases. The results from symmetri…
We analyze entanglement and nonlocal properties of the convex set of symmetric $N$-qubits states which are diagonal in the Dicke basis. First, we demonstrate that within this set, positivity of partial transposition (PPT) is necessary and sufficient for separability --- which has also been reported recently in https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.94.060101 {Phys. Rev. A \textbf{94}, 060101(R) (2016)}. Further, we show which states among the entangled DS are nonlocal under two-body Bell inequalities. The diagonal symmetric convex set contains a simple and extended family of states that violate the …
We study the pairwise quantum discord (QD) for a symmetric multi-qubit system in different types of noisy channels, such as phase-flip, amplitude damping, phase-damping, and depolarizing channels. Using the QD and geometric measure of quantum discord (GMQD) to quantify quantum correlations, some analytical or numerical results are presented. The results show that, the dynamics of the pairwise QD is related to the number of spin particles $N$ as well as initial parameter $θ$ of the one-axis twisting collective state. With the number of spin particles $N$ increasing, the amount of the pairwise Q…
We present a scheme for symmetric multiparty quantum state sharing of an arbitrary $m$-qubit state with $m$ Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states following some ideas from the controlled teleportation [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{72}, 02338 (2005)]. The sender Alice performs $m$ Bell-state measurements on her $2m$ particles and the controllers need only to take some single-photon product measurements on their photons independently, not Bell-state measurements, which makes this scheme more convenient than the latter. Also it does not require the parties to perform a controlled-NOT gate on the photons for…
The symmetric collective states of an atomic spin ensemble (i.e., many-body states that are invariant under particle exchange) are not preserved by decoherence that acts identically but individually on members of the ensemble. We develop a class of collective states in an ensemble of N spin-1/2 particles that is invariant under symmetric local decoherence and find that the dimension of the Hilbert space spanned by these collective states scales only as N^2. We then investigate the open system dynamics of experimentally relevant non-classical collective atomic states, including Schroedinger cat…
Quantum key distribution uses public discussion protocols to establish shared secret keys. In the exploration of ultimate limits to such protocols, the property of symmetric extendibility of underlying bipartite states $ρ_{AB}$ plays an important role. A bipartite state $ρ_{AB}$ is symmetric extendible if there exits a tripartite state $ρ_{ABB'}$, such that the $AB$ marginal state is identical to the $AB'$ marginal state, i.e. $ρ_{AB'}=ρ_{AB}$. For a symmetric extendible state $ρ_{AB}$, the first task of the public discussion protocol is to break this symmetric extendibility. Therefore to char…
We discuss how to calculate genuine multipartite quantum and classical correlations in symmetric, spatially invariant, mixed $n$-qubit density matrices. We show that the existence of symmetries greatly reduces the amount of free parameters to be optimized in order to find the optimal measurement that minimizes the conditional entropy in the discord calculation. We apply this approach to the states exhibited dynamically during a thermodynamic protocol to extract maximum work. We also apply the symmetry criterion to a wide class of physically relevant cases of spatially homogeneous noise over mu…
From both theoretical and experimental points of view symmetric states constitute an important class of multipartite states. Still, entanglement properties of these states, in particular those with positive partial transposition (PPT), lack a systematic study. Aiming at filling in this gap, we have recently affirmatively answered the open question of existence of four-qubit entangled symmetric states with positive partial transposition and thoroughly characterized entanglement properties of such states [J. Tura et al., Phys. Rev. A 85, 060302(R) (2012)] With the present contribution we continu…
Analytic quantifiers of the symmetric quantum discord for two-qubit X type states and block-diagonal states and the symmetric measurement induced nonlocality for any two qubit states are established on the basis of the quantum skew information.
We show that violation of variance based local sum uncertainty relation (LSUR) for angular momentum operators of a bipartite system, proposed by Hofmann and Takeuchi~[Phys.Rev.A {\bf 68}, 032103 (2003)], reflects entanglement in the equal bipartitions of an $N$-qubit symmetric state with even qubits. We establish the one-to-one connection with the violation of LSUR with negativity of covariance matrix [Phys. Lett. A, {\bf 364}, 203 (2007)] of the two-qubit reduced system of a permutation symmetric $N$-qubit state.
