EPR steering paradox ‘2 Q = (2−δ) C ’

Abstract

Abstract Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is a quantum nonlocality between entanglement and Bell’s nonlocality emphasizing the incompatibility of the local-hidden-state (LHS) model with quantum theory. It is well established that the EPR steering paradox is an essential method for determining steering, which reveals the nature of steering by logical contradiction. However, previous studies on the EPR steering paradox have only examined cases where the conditional states of the steered party are pure. In this work, we present the EPR steering paradox about the case when the conditional states of the steered party are mixed, which can be expressed as a paradoxical equality ‘ 2 Q = 2 − δ C ’ 0 < δ < 1 given by quantum (Q) and classical (C) theories. For any N-qubit state, in the two-setting steering protocol, the contradiction ‘ 2 Q = 2 − δ C ’ can be obtained if and only if a particular set of projective measurements of the steering party makes all the conditional states of the steered party pure, which also implies that the N-qubit state is steerable. Moreover, considering the conditional states of the steered party as mixed states, we are able to identify the full range of steerable states detectable through the EPR steering paradox method. This also means that, so far, one has found all the steerable states that can be recognized by the EPR steering paradox, which is significant for some typical quantum schemes such as quantum teleportation and quantum key distribution.