Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-60/4/i/solution

Nielsen's pure-state conversion theorem gives the exact deterministic LOCC criterion. Let the Schmidt decompositions be and . The vectors consist of squared Schmidt coefficients, equivalently the eigenvalues of either reduced density operator. Order each in decreasing order and pad with zeros to a common length .
Then deterministic conversion is possible if and only if
This is majorization, with the input vector majorized by the output vector. The direction matters: a maximally entangled state has a uniform vector, which is majorized by a product state's vector , so entanglement can be discarded by LOCC. The criterion is for certain exact conversion, without catalysts or postselection on a successful branch.

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