Detection of nonabsolute separability in quantum states and channels through moments
Phys. Rev. A 113, 012433 – Published 22 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/x56c-2yp1
Abstract
In quantum information and computation, the generation of entanglement through unitary gates remains a significant and active area of research. However, there are states termed as absolutely separable, from which entanglement cannot be created through any nonlocal unitary action. Thus, from a resource-theoretic perspective, nonabsolutely separable states are useful as they can be turned into entangled states using some appropriate unitary gates. In this work, we propose an efficient method to detect nonabsolutely separable states. Our approach relies on evaluating moments that can bypass the need for full state tomography, thereby enhancing its practical applicability. We then present several examples in support of our detection scheme. We also address a closely related problem concerning states whose partial transpose remains positive under any arbitrary nonlocal unitary action. Furthermore, we examine the effectiveness of our moment-based approach in the detection of quantum channels that are not absolutely separating, which entails the detection of resource-preserving channels. Finally, we demonstrate the operational significance of nonabsolutely separable states by proving that every such state can provide an advantage in a quantum-channel discrimination task.
