Almost complete solution for the NP-hard separability problem of Bell diagonal qutrits

Abstract

AbstractWith a probability of success of 95% we solve the separability problem for Bell diagonal qutrit states with positive partial transposition (PPT). The separability problem, i.e. distinguishing separable and entangled states, generally lacks an efficient solution due to the existence of bound entangled states. In contrast to free entangled states that can be used for entanglement distillation via local operations and classical communication, these states cannot be detected by the Peres–Horodecki criterion or PPT criterion. We analyze a large family of bipartite qutrit states that can be separable, free entangled or bound entangled. Leveraging a geometrical representation of these states in Euclidean space, novel methods are presented that allow the classification of separable and bound entangled Bell diagonal states in an efficient way. Moreover, the classification allows the precise determination of relative volumes of the classes of separable, free and bound entangled states. In detail, out of all Bell diagonal PPT states $$81.0\% \pm 0.1\%$$ 81.0 % ± 0.1 % are determined to be separable while $$13.9 \pm 0.1\%$$ 13.9 ± 0.1 % are bound entangled and only $$5.1 \pm 0.1\%$$ 5.1 ± 0.1 % remain unclassified. Moreover, our applied criteria are compared for their effectiveness and relation as detectors of bound entanglement, which reveals that not a single criterion is capable to detect all bound entangled states.