Second Law of Entanglement Dynamics for the Non-Asymptotic Regime

Abstract

The distillable entanglement of a bipartite quantum state does not exceed its entanglement cost. This well known inequality can be understood as a second law of entanglement dynamics in the asymptotic regime of entanglement manipulation, excluding the possibility of perpetual entanglement extraction machines that generate boundless entanglement from a finite reserve. In this paper, I establish a refined second law of entanglement dynamics that holds for the non-asymptotic regime of entanglement manipulation.