Concurrence 2026-09-28
For a normalized pure state of two qubits with coefficient matrix , the concurrence is . It ranges from zero for a product state to one for a maximally entangled state.
Generalized Bell basis 2026-10-07
For a primitive root of unity and labels modulo , the displayed maximally entangled states form an orthonormal basis. Inner products equal , by the geometric series. A nonprimitive root repeats phase labels and does not give a complete orthonormal basis.
Generalized Bell state 2026-10-07
A generalized Bell state is one member of a generalized Bell basis. Its reduced density matrices are both , so it is a maximally entangled state. For these are the four Bell states.
Isotropic quantum state Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For two -dimensional systems, an isotropic quantum state has the formwhere is a maximally entangled state. This parametrization is separable exactly when .
A normalized bipartite pure state of Schmidt rank has quantum fidelity at most with a fixed maximally entangled state on . Its coefficient matrix has matrix rank and Hilbert-Schmidt norm one. Its overlap is the trace of that matrix divided by ; trace duality and the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality bound this by . Uniform Schmidt coefficients on matching basis pairs attain equality.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 323 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The useful object is the Choi state of the entanglement-breaking channel. Put , introduce a reference with the same computational basis as , and use the normalized maximally entangled stateThe entanglement-breaking channel makes a separable quantum state. Its partial trace is , because is a quantum channel. Write a separable positive operator decompositionDiscard any term with : a positive operator with zero trace is zero. DefineEach is a density operator. Each is a positive operator, and taking the matrix transpose of the partial trace identity givesThus the form a POVM. In this reference-first convention, the Choi reconstruction formula isThe factor is essential because we used a normalized Choi state. A measurement channel storing the outcome , followed by the prescribed quantum state preparation of , has precisely this action on every linear operator . The desired factorization is therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 323 4 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write . Normalization says , and the Schmidt rank equals the matrix rank of . Its nonzero singular values are therefore with .
The overlap with the maximally entangled state is . The trace norm estimate of Q3(i), with test linear operator , followed by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, givesFor two pure states, the unsquared quantum fidelity is the absolute value of their overlap. Hence the maximally entangled overlap bound from Schmidt rank isThe bound is attained by . Thus uniform Schmidt coefficients on aligned basis pairs give the greatest possible overlap for that Schmidt rank.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 323 1 vi Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Expanding the normalized maximally entangled state in the definition of the Choi state givesHere the bar denotes componentwise complex conjugation in the basis defining the Choi state. Every term is a positive tensor-product operator, and the whole operator has trace one because is assumed to be a quantum channel. It is therefore a separable quantum state, proving entanglement breaking by the separable Choi-state criterion for entanglement breaking.
If the vectors are unit vectors, the displayed are already the product-state weights. If they are not normalized, absorb their squared norms into the weights and normalize the nonzero vectors. Trace preservation requiresthe probability-distribution condition alone would not guarantee this. Equivalently, the Kraus operators are , exhibiting the rank-one Kraus representation of an entanglement-breaking channel.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 325 4 Solution 2026-09-28
For particle positions , the two-particle Schrodinger equation isWrite for the localized wave packet and . Neglecting packet spreading and branch overlap, the initial product state evolves branchwise asup to phases generated independently on the two particles. These branch-dependent phases generally cannot be separated into one phase depending only on and one depending only on , so the Newtonian gravitational potential energy creates gravitationally induced entanglement.
If is much smaller than the other separations, remove their nearly common phase and retain onlyThe state is approximatelyIts concurrence is , so it becomes maximally entangled first at . For ,Thus the near-maximal entanglement time is about within the stated approximation.
A single prescribed classical gravitational potential gives a Hamiltonian of the form . Its evolution factorizes as and preserves every initial product state, so it cannot generate this entanglement. A semiclassical mean field sourced only by expectation values likewise gives each particle a local one-body potential and does not provide a quantum mediator carrying branch correlations.
An entanglement witness is a Hermitian operator whose expectation is nonnegative on every separable state but negative on at least one entangled state. At , defineThe largest Schmidt coefficient of is , so every product state in the four-dimensional branch subspace satisfies . By closure under convex combinations, for every separable mixture, whereasA negative measured value therefore certifies entanglement. Under the assumptions that the masses began unentangled and interacted only through gravity, such certification would show that the mediator can transmit quantum coherence; it would be evidence against a purely classical gravitational channel and for the quantum nature of gravity.