The rebit three-tangle and its relation to two-qubit entanglement

Abstract

The three-tangle is a measure of three-way entanglement in a system of three qubits. For a pure state, it can be understood as the residual entanglement not accounted for by pairwise entanglements between individual qubits. Here we define and evaluate the analogous quantity for three rebits (that is, binary systems in the real-amplitude variant of quantum theory). We find that the resulting formula is the same as in the complex case, except that an overall absolute value sign is missing. As a result, the rebit three-tangle can be negative, expressing the possibility of non-monogamous entanglement in real-amplitude quantum theory (for entanglement based on the convex-roof construction). We then relate the entanglement among three rebits to the entanglement of two qubits, by re-expressing the two-qubit state as a three-rebit state in the ubit model.