Bounding the separable rank via polynomial optimization

TL;DR

This paper develops a hierarchy of semidefinite programming bounds to estimate the separable rank of bipartite quantum states, extending to multipartite and real cases, and offers new insights into the structure of separable states.

Contribution

It introduces a moment-based hierarchy of semidefinite bounds for the separable rank, utilizing polynomial positivity constraints, and extends these methods to multipartite and real separable states.

Findings

Hierarchy converges to a convexified separable rank parameter

Method extends to multipartite and real cases

Provides new proofs for convergence of the DPS hierarchy

Abstract

We investigate questions related to the set $\mathcal{SEP}_d$ consisting of the linear maps $\rho$ acting on $\mathbb{C}^d\otimes \mathbb{C}^d$ that can be written as a convex combination of rank one matrices of the form $xx^*\otimes yy^*$. Such maps are known in quantum information theory as the separable bipartite states, while nonseparable states are called entangled. In particular we introduce bounds for the separable rank $\mathrm{rank_{sep}}(\rho)$, defined as the smallest number of rank one states $xx^*\otimes yy^*$ entering the decomposition of a separable state $\rho$. Our approach relies on the moment method and yields a hierarchy of semidefinite-based lower bounds, that converges to a parameter $\tau_{\mathrm{sep}}(\rho)$, a natural convexification of the combinatorial parameter $\mathrm{rank_{sep}}(\rho)$. A distinguishing feature is exploiting the positivity constraint $\rho-xx^*\otimes yy^* \succeq 0$ to impose positivity of a polynomial matrix localizing map, the dual notion of the notion of sum-of-squares polynomial matrices. Our approach extends naturally to the multipartite setting and to the real separable rank, and it permits strengthening some known bounds for the completely positive rank. In addition, we indicate how the moment approach also applies to define hierarchies of semidefinite relaxations for the set $\mathcal{SEP}_d$ and permits to give new proofs, using only tools from moment theory, for convergence results on the DPS hierarchy from (A.C. Doherty, P.A. Parrilo and F.M. Spedalieri. Distinguishing separable and entangled states. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88(18):187904, 2002).