Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2026 / iii / Paper 323 / 2 / b

After permuting the computational basis, $\rho$ is the direct sum ofThe stated diagonal and trace conditions already give Hermiticity and trace one. Each $2\times 2$ block is positive semidefinite exactly when its determinant is nonnegative. Thus $\rho$ is a density matrix precisely when

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Partial transposition interchanges the positions occupied by $x$ and $y$. Positivity of ${\rho }^{T_B}$ therefore requiresBecause the system is $2\otimes 2$, the positive partial transpose criterion is necessary and sufficient. Combining these inequalities with validity of the original state gives

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.