Diagonal two-qubit phase entanglement criterion Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-25
A diagonal two-qubit gate with entries is a product of local diagonal gates, up to global phase, exactly when modulo . This follows by factoring the two-by-two array of phases; its determinant vanishes precisely in that case. If the determinant is nonzero, applying the gate to produces an entangled state by the two-qubit product-state determinant criterion. In particular is local, whereas is the entangling Controlled-Z gate.
Consider one normalized measurement vector on C. The unnormalized partial inner product on AB is
Its tensor-product coefficient matrix and determinant are
The two-qubit product-state determinant criterion therefore says that this branch is entangled whenever . Its probability is , so such a branch is physically possible and can be normalized without changing whether its determinant vanishes.
For an orthonormal basis , completeness gives . At least one vector has . Hence at least one nonzero-probability outcome leaves AB entangled, proving conditional entanglement of the three-qubit W state. Some bases give two entangled branches; the computational basis gives one entangled and one product branch. The claim is not that every outcome must entangle AB.
Taking partial inner products with and on the first wire gives and . They are nonzero and orthogonal, hence linearly independent. This contradicts the necessary product-state property proved in part (a), so the second state is entangled.
Equivalently, its tensor-product coefficient matrix is , with . The two-qubit product-state determinant criterion gives the same conclusion. In fact , so its Schmidt coefficients are both : it is maximally entangled.
Grouping by the first qubit gives
The vectors on both sides form orthonormal bases, so this is a Schmidt decomposition with two nonzero Schmidt coefficients . Hence the state is maximally entangled. Independently, its coefficient matrix has determinant
which excludes a product state by the two-qubit product-state determinant criterion. Each reduced density matrix is .
A pure bipartite state is entangled when it is not a product state .
Since
we have
Its coefficient matrix is proportional to
whose determinant is . By the two-qubit product-state determinant criterion, a product state would have determinant zero. Therefore is entangled.
Two-qubit state 2026-10-25
A quantum state on the tensor product of two two-dimensional complex state spaces. A normalized pure state has squared coefficient moduli summing to one. It is a product state exactly when , by the two-qubit product-state determinant criterion. The weaker equality of moduli only characterizes independence of the computational-basis outcomes; phases can preserve quantum entanglement despite those independent statistics.