Mode-entanglement of Gaussian fermionic states

TL;DR

This paper explores the entanglement properties of Gaussian fermionic states, establishing a standard form, analyzing local operations, and identifying maximally entangled states for multi-mode systems.

Contribution

It introduces a standard form for mixed Gaussian fermionic states, shows the limitations of Gaussian LOCC, and characterizes entanglement classes and maximally entangled sets for multi-mode states.

Findings

No non-trivial Gaussian LOCC transformations exist.

Standard form for mixed states is unique and classifies state equivalence.

Explicit characterization of Gaussian SLOCC classes for few-mode states.

Abstract

We investigate the entanglement of n-mode n-partite Gaussian fermionic states (GFS). First, we identify a reasonable definition of separability for GFS and derive a standard form for mixed states, to which any state can be mapped via Gaussian local unitaries (GLU). As the standard form is unique two GFS are equivalent under GLU if and only if their standard forms coincide. Then, we investigate the important class of local operations assisted by classical communication (LOCC). These are central in entanglement theory as they allow to partially order the entanglement contained in states. We show, however, that there are no non-trivial Gaussian LOCC (GLOCC). That is, any GLOCC transformation can be accomplished via GLUs. To still obtain insights into the various entanglement properties of n-mode n-partite GFS we investigate the richer class of Gaussian stochastic LOCC. We characterize Gaussian SLOCC classes of pure states and derive them explicitly for few-mode states. Furthermore, we consider certain fermionic LOCC and show how to identify the maximally entangled set (MES) of pure n-mode n-partite GFS, i.e., the minimal set of states having the property that any other state can be obtained from one state inside this set via fermionic LOCC. We generalize these findings also to the pure m-mode n-partite (for m>n) case.