Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2005/iii/paper-37/2/a/solution

Diagonalize the reduced density matrix on Alice's Hilbert space:
For every positive eigenvalue, define a vector on Bob's Hilbert space by
The definition of the partial trace gives
Thus the are orthonormal. Extend the to an orthonormal basis of Alice's Hilbert space. If lies in the zero-eigenvalue subspace of , then
There is therefore no component of in those additional basis directions. Expansion in Alice's orthonormal basis yields the Schmidt decomposition
Its positive Schmidt coefficients are and its Schmidt rank is . Taking the two partial traces and using the orthonormality of both families gives
Hence the two reduced density matrices have exactly the same nonzero eigenvalues, including multiplicities. Their numbers of zero eigenvalues may differ when the local Hilbert spaces have different dimensions. In particular their Von Neumann entropies agree.

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