Separability from Spectrum for Qubit-Qudit States

Abstract

The separability from spectrum problem asks for a characterization of the eigenvalues of the bipartite mixed states {\rho} with the property that U^*{\rho}U is separable for all unitary matrices U. This problem has been solved when the local dimensions m and n satisfy m = 2 and n <= 3. We solve all remaining qubit-qudit cases (i.e., when m = 2 and n >= 4 is arbitrary). In all of these cases we show that a state is separable from spectrum if and only if U^*{\rho}U has positive partial transpose for all unitary matrices U. This equivalence is in stark contrast with the usual separability problem, where a state having positive partial transpose is a strictly weaker property than it being separable.