Eigenvalues, Peres' separability condition and entanglement

Abstract

The general expression with the physical significance and positive definite condition of the eigenvalues of $4\times 4$ Hermitian and trace-one matrix are obtained. This implies that the eigenvalue problem of the $4\times 4$ density matrix is generally solved. The obvious expression of Peres' separability condition for an arbitrary state of two qubits is then given out and it is very easy to use. Furthermore, we discuss some applications to the calculation of the entanglement, the upper bound of the entanglement, and a model of the transfer of entanglement in a qubit chain through a noisy channel.