Entanglement and classical correlations in the quantum frame

Abstract

The frame of classical probability theory can be generalized by enlarging the usual family of random variables in order to encompass nondeterministic ones: this leads to a frame in which two kinds of correlations emerge: the classical correlation which is coded in the mixed state of the physical system and a new correlation, to be called probabilistic entanglement, which may occur also at pure states. We examine to what extent this characterization of correlations can be applied to quantum mechanics. Explicit calculations on simple examples outline that a same quantum state can show only classical correlations or only entanglement depending on its statistical content; situations may also arise in which the two kinds of correlations compensate each other.