On the state space structure of tripartite quantum systems

Abstract

State space structure of tripartite quantum systems is analyzed. In particular, it has been shown that the set of states separable across all the three bipartitions [say $\mathcal{B}^{int}(ABC)$] is a strict subset of the set of states having positive partial transposition (PPT) across the three bipartite cuts [say $\mathcal{P}^{int}(ABC)$] for all the tripartite Hilbert spaces $\mathbb{C}_A^{d_1}\otimes\mathbb{C}_B^{d_2}\otimes\mathbb{C}_C^{d_3}$ with $\min\{d_1,d_2,d_3\}\ge2$. The claim is proved by constructing state belonging to the set $\mathcal{P}^{int}(ABC)$ but not belonging to $\mathcal{B}^{int}(ABC)$. For $(\mathbb{C}^{d})^{\otimes3}$ with $d\ge3$, the construction follows from specific type of multipartite unextendible product bases. However, such a construction is not possible for $(\mathbb{C}^{2})^{\otimes3}$ since for any $n$ the bipartite system $\mathbb{C}^2\otimes\mathbb{C}^n$ cannot have any unextendible product bases [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 5385 (1999)]. For the $3$-qubit system we, therefore, come up with a different construction.