The imaginary unit $i$ has recently been experimentally proven to be indispensable for quantum mechanics. We study the differences in detection power between real and complex entanglement witnesses (EWs) distinguished by whether their matrix expressions incorporate imaginary parts. We show that a real EW (REW), denoted by a real Hermitian matrix, must detect one entangled state of a real density matrix, and conversely an entangled state of a real density matrix must be detected by one REW. We present a necessary and sufficient condition for the entangled states detected by REWs and give a specific example implying the detection limitations of REWs. From an operational perspective, we investigate whether all entangled states are detected by the EWs locally equivalent to some REWs. We prove the validity for all nonpositive partial transpose states. We also derive a necessary and sufficient condition of the validity for the positive partial transpose (PPT) entangled states of complex density matrices. By this condition we show the validity for a family of two-qutrit PPT entangled states of rank four. Another way to figure out the problem is to check whether a counterexample exists. We propose a method to examine the existence from a set-theoretic perspective and provide some supporting evidence of nonexistence. Finally, we derive some results on local projections of EWs with product projectors.

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• Quantum correlations, foundations & formalism
• Quantum entanglement