Extremal entanglement and mixedness in continuous variable systems

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between mixedness and entanglement for Gaussian states of continuous variable systems. We introduce generalized entropies based on Schatten $p$-norms to quantify the mixedness of a state, and derive their explicit expressions in terms of symplectic spectra. We compare the hierarchies of mixedness provided by such measures with the one provided by the purity (defined as ${\rm tr} \varrho^2$ for the state $\varrho$) for generic $n$-mode states. We then review the analysis proving the existence of both maximally and minimally entangled states at given global and marginal purities, with the entanglement quantified by the logarithmic negativity. Based on these results, we extend such an analysis to generalized entropies, introducing and fully characterizing maximally and minimally entangled states for given global and local generalized entropies. We compare the different roles played by the purity and by the generalized $p$-entropies in quantifying the entanglement and the mixedness of continuous variable systems. We introduce the concept of average logarithmic negativity, showing that it allows a reliable quantitative estimate of continuous variable entanglement by direct measurements of global and marginal generalized $p$-entropies.