Geometrical structure of entangled states and secant variety

We investigate the geometry of the four qubit systems by means of algebraic geometry and invariant theory, which allows us to interpret certain entangled states as algebraic varieties. More precisely we describe the nullcone, i.e., the set of states annihilated by all invariant polynomials, and also the so called third secant variety, which can be interpreted as the generalization of GHZ-states for more than three qubits. All our geometric descriptions go along with algorithm...

Quantum entanglement was first recognized as a feature of quantum mechanics in the famous paper of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen [18]. Recently it has been realized that quantum entanglement is a key ingredient in quantum computation, quantum communication and quantum cryptography ([16],[17],[6]). In this paper, we introduce algebraic sets, which are determinantal varieties in the complex projective spaces or the products of complex projective spaces, for the mixed states in b...

We present a complete classification of the geometry of entangled and separable states in three-dimensional Hilbert subspaces of bipartite and multipartite quantum systems. Our analysis begins by finding the geometric structure of the pure product states in a given three-dimensional Hilbert subspace, which determines all the possible separable and entangled mixed states over the same subspace. In bipartite systems, we characterise the 14 possible qualitatively different geome...

We investigate the geometrical structure of multipartite states based on the construction of toric varieties. We show that the toric variety represents the space of general pure states and projective toric variety defines the space of separable set of multi-qubits states. We also discuss in details the construction of single-, two-, three-, and multi- qubits states. This construction gives a very simple and elegant visual representation of the geometrical structure of multipa...

We consider here the problem, which is quite classical in Algebraic geometry, of studying the secant varieties of a projective variety $X$. The case we concentrate on is when $X$ is a Veronese variety, a Grassmannian or a Segre variety. Not only these varieties are among the ones that have been most classically studied, but a strong motivation in taking them into consideration is the fact that they parameterize, respectively, symmetric, skew-symmetric and general tensors, whi...

Entangled many-body states are an essential resource for quantum computing and interferometry. Determining the type of entanglement present in a system usually requires access to an exponential number of parameters. We show that in the case of pure multi-particle quantum states, features of the global entanglement can already be extracted from local information alone. This is achieved by associating with any given class of entanglement an entanglement polytope---a geometric o...

In this paper we present several multipartite quantum systems featuring the same type of genuine (tripartite) entanglement. Based on a geometric interpretation of the so-called $|W\rangle$ and $|GHZ\rangle$ states we show that the classification of all multipartite systems featuring those and only those two classes of genuine entanglement can be deduced from earlier work of algebraic geometers. This classification corresponds in fact to classification of fundamental subadjoin...

I sketch how the set of pure quantum states forms a phase space, and then point out a curiousity concerning maximally entangled pure states: they form a minimal Lagrangian submanifold of the set of all pure states. I suggest that this curiousity should have an interesting physical interpretation.

This paper is based on the first author's lectures at the 2012 University of Regina Workshop "Connections Between Algebra and Geometry". Its aim is to provide an introduction to the theory of higher secant varieties and their applications. Several references and solved exercises are also included.

In arXiv:1208.0365 entanglement polytopes where introduced as a coarsening of the SLOCC classification of multipartite entanglement. The advantages of classifying entanglement by entanglement polytopes are a finite hierarchy for all dimensions and a number of parameters linear in system size. In arXiv:1208.0365 a method to compute entanglement polytopes using geometric invariant theory is presented. In this thesis we consider alternative methods to compute them. Some geometri...