Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Werner state

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A Werner state is a d × d-dimensional bipartite quantum state density matrix that is invariant under all unitary operators of the form U U . That is, it is a quantum state ρ that satisfies

ρ = ( U U ) ρ ( U U )

for all unitary operators U acting on d-dimensional Hilbert space.

Every Werner state is a mixture of projectors onto the symmetric and antisymmetric subspaces, with the relative weight psym being the only parameter that defines the state.

ρ = p sym 2 d 2 + d P sym + ( 1 p sym ) 2 d 2 d P as ,

where

P sym = 1 2 ( 1 + P ) , P as = 1 2 ( 1 P ) ,

are the projectors and

P = i j | i j | | j i |

is the permutation operator that exchanges the two subsystems.

Werner states are separable for psym12 and entangled for psym < 12. All entangled Werner states violate the PPT separability criterion, but for d ≥ 3 no Werner states violate the weaker reduction criterion. Werner states can be parametrized in different ways. One way of writing them is

ρ = 1 d 2 d α ( 1 α P ) ,

where the new parameter α varies between −1 and 1 and relates to psym as

α = ( ( 1 2 p sym ) d + 1 ) / ( 1 2 p sym + d ) .

Multipartite Werner states

Werner states can be generalized to the multipartite case. An N-party Werner state is a state that is invariant under U U . . . U for any unitary U on a single subsystem. The Werner state is no longer described by a single parameter, but by N! − 1 parameters, and is a linear combination of the N! different permutations on N systems.

References

Werner state Wikipedia