Equality condition for a matrix inequality by partial transpose

Abstract

The partial transpose map is a linear map widely used quantum information theory. We study the equality condition for a matrix inequality generated by partial transpose, namely $\rank(\sum^K_{j=1} A_j^T \otimes B_j)\le K \cdot \rank(\sum^K_{j=1} A_j \otimes B_j)$, where $A_j$'s and $B_j$'s are respectively the matrices of the same size, and $K$ is the Schmidt rank. We explicitly construct the condition when $A_i$'s are column or row vectors, or $2\times 2$ matrices. For the case where the Schmidt rank equals the dimension of $A_j$, we extend the results from $2\times 2$ matrices to square matrices, and further to rectangular matrices. In detail, we show that $\sum^K_{j=1} A_j \otimes B_j$ is locally equivalent to an elegant block-diagonal form consisting solely of identity and zero matrices. We also study the general case for $K=2$, and it turns out that the key is to characterize the expression of matrices $A_j$'s and $B_j$'s.