Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 54 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
By the Schmidt decomposition theorem, suitable local unitary operations put the normalized pure state into the formIt is entangled precisely when both Schmidt coefficients are nonzero. Put , so for the case of interest. The Pauli operatorssatisfy and in this pure state: fixes both basis terms, and exchanges them.
Choose Alice's two observables as , , and Bob's asThese are valid dichotomic projective measurements. Indeed, and , so ; each observable has outcomes . For the CHSH inequality convention , the quantum value isFor the original pure state, conjugate these four observables by the corresponding local unitary operators. Their outcomes and Pauli correlators are unchanged, and each party still measures only their own qubit. Thus every entangled pure two-qubit state violates CHSH for suitable local measurements, proving Gisin's theorem directly. The CHSH axes for an entangled pure two-qubit state approach a nonviolating configuration continuously as one Schmidt coefficient tends to zero; the strict violation therefore need not be large for weak entanglement.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 62 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Schmidt decomposition theorem states that a normalized vector in a finite-dimensional tensor product has the form , where the two families are orthonormal, , , and . Extending each family to an orthonormal basis for two qubits givesThe nonzero Schmidt coefficients can be made positive by absorbing phases into the basis vectors. Both are positive exactly when the pure state is entangled. A product state has Schmidt rank one, so one coefficient is zero; the source's assertion of two positive coefficients for every pure state needs this exception.
Choose each local orthonormal basis independently as the computational basis. In that basis . This is a local change of coordinates, implemented by separate unitary matrices, rather than a physical restriction on the original quantum state. The associated Pauli operators supply the other two local axes. Up to an irrelevant common phase, each unitary change of qubit basis corresponds to a rotation of its Bloch sphere.
Put . The Schmidt-basis Pauli correlation tensor is diagonal. The Pauli operators exchange and , while do so with minus signs, and leaves both fixed. HenceMixed components vanish: those containing one and one transverse Pauli operator map the occupied basis vectors outside their span, while the and matrix elements are purely imaginary and cancel for real Schmidt coefficients. By bilinearity, for arbitrary real vectors,For a CHSH inequality test take unit quantum measurement axesThese CHSH axes for an entangled pure two-qubit state giveThe local bound is two: for each hidden state, is when all four outcomes are , and averaging cannot increase its absolute value. Thus every entangled pure two-qubit state violates a CHSH inequality, the content of Gisin's theorem. A product state has and does not violate it, so the unqualified final claim in the question is false for that case. The maximum occurs for equal Schmidt coefficients. This excludes local hidden-variable theories satisfying measurement independence, but does not permit faster-than-light signalling: the local reduced density matrix and its quantum measurement probabilities are unchanged by the remote choice of axis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 325 4 Solution 2026-09-28
The Schmidt decomposition of an entangled pure two-qubit state has two nonzero terms. Absorb both complex phases into the local basis vectors and interchange the labels of the second qubit to obtainIn this state the only nonzero same-axis two-qubit Pauli correlators areAll mixed-axis correlators vanish. Expanding therefore gives
For the four stated vectors this becomesIt follows immediately thatEvery separable quantum state obeys the corresponding CHSH inequality with upper bound two. Set , choose , and take with . The displayed expression is thenThus every entangled pure two-qubit state has local measurement correlations that no separable state can reproduce, which is Gisin's theorem. In an ideal Bose--Marletto--Vedral experiment, optimized local measurements can therefore witness any nonzero pure-state entanglement generated during the gravitational interaction. If gravity is the only interaction between the masses, such a violation shows that the mediator cannot be described by a purely classical local variable under the assumptions of the proposal; experimentally, control of decoherence and nongravitational forces is essential to that inference.