Concurrence (quantum computing)

In quantum information science, the concurrence is a state invariant involving qubits.

Definition

the concurrence is an entanglement monotone defined for a mixed state of two qubits as:^[1][2][3][4]

$\mathcal{C}(\rho)\equiv\max(0,\lambda_1-\lambda_2-\lambda_3-\lambda_4)$

in which $\lambda_1,...,\lambda_4$ are the eigenvalues, in decreasing order, of the Hermitian matrix

$R = \sqrt{\sqrt{\rho}\tilde{\rho}\sqrt{\rho}}$

with

$\tilde{\rho} = (\sigma_{y}\otimes\sigma_{y})\rho^{*}(\sigma_{y}\otimes\sigma_{y})$

the spin-flipped state of $\rho$, $\sigma_y$ a Pauli spin matrix, and the eigenvalues listed in decreasing order.

Other formulations

Alternatively, the $\lambda_{i}$'s represent the square roots of the eigenvalues of the non-Hermitian matrix $\rho\tilde{\rho}$.^[2] Note that each $\lambda_{i}$ is a non-negative real number. From the concurrence, the entanglement of formation can be calculated.

Properties

For pure states, the concurrence is a polynomial $SL(2,\mathbb{C})^{\otimes 2}$ invariant in the state's coefficients.^[5] For mixed states, the concurrence can be defined by convex roof extension.^[3]

For the concurrence, there is monogamy of entanglement,^[6][7] that is, the concurrence of a qubit with the rest of the system cannot ever exceed the sum of the concurrences of qubit pairs which it is part of.

References

1. Scott Hill and William K. Wootters, Entanglement of a Pair of Quantum Bits, 1997.
2. William K. Wootters, Entanglement of Formation of an Arbitrary State of Two Qubits 1998.
3. Roland Hildebrand, Concurrence revisited, 2007
4. Ryszard Horodecki, Paweł Horodecki, Michał Horodecki, Karol Horodecki, Quantum entanglement, 2009
5. D. Ž. Ðoković and A. Osterloh, On polynomial invariants of several qubits, 2009
6. Valerie Coffman, Joydip Kundu, and William K. Wootters, Distributed entanglement, 2000
7. Tobias J. Osborne and Frank Verstraete, General Monogamy Inequality for Bipartite Qubit Entanglement, 2006