PHYSICAL REVIEW A 90, 022313 (2014)
Nonlocality of orthogonal product basis quantum states
Zhi-Chao Zhang, Fei Gao,
*
Guo-Jing Tian, Tian-Qing Cao, and Qiao-Yan Wen
State Key Laboratory of Networking and Switching Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
(Received 8 May 2014; revised manuscript received 2 July 2014; published 13 August 2014)
In this paper, we mainly study the local indistinguishability of mutually orthogonal product basis quantum
states in the high-dimensional quantum systems. In the Hilbert space of 3 ⊗ 3, Walgate and Hardy [Phys. Rev.
Lett. 89, 147901 (2002)] presented a very simple proof for nonlocality of nine orthogonal product basis quantum
states which are given by Bennett et al. [Phys. Rev. A 59, 1070 (1999)]. In the quantum system of d ⊗d,
where d is odd, we construct d
2
orthogonal product basis quantum states and prove these states are locally
indistinguishable. Then we are able to construct some locally indistinguishable product basis quantum states in
the multipartite systems. All these results reveal the phenomenon of “nonlocality without entanglement.”
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.90.022313 PACS number(s): 03.67.Hk, 03.65.Ud
I. INTRODUCTION
In quantum-information theory, the relationship between
quantum entanglement and quantum nonlocality is one of the
fundamental problems [1–11]. Especially for the phenomenon
of “nonlocality without entanglement,” numerous important
results have been presented [1–6]. In spite of these huge
advances, the nonlocality of orthogonal product states is still
incompletely studied.
In some cases, we have known that entanglement increases
the difficulty of distinguishing quantum states, which is
commonplace in most local operations and classical com-
munication (LOCC) indistinguishable sets of quantum states
[12–20]. However, entanglement is not necessary for local
indistinguishability of quantum states. In 1999, Bennett et al.
first exhibited a set of nine pure product states in 3 ⊗ 3
which cannot be exactly distinguished by LOCC and presented
the phenomenon of nonlocality without entanglement [1].
Furthermore, Walgate et al. put forward a very simple proof
for the nonlocality of the nine pure product basis quantum
states [2]. Then Chen et al. proved that distinguishing the
elements of a full orthogonal product basis set needed only
projective measurements and classical communication, and
gave a sufficient condition for distinguishing a full orthogonal
product basis set [4]. In 2009, for locally indistinguishable
orthogonal product states in 3 ⊗3 and 2 ⊗2 ⊗ 2, Feng et al.
presented a new proof method [6]. In Ref. [21], Childs
et al. proved that any LOCC measurement for discriminat-
ing irreducible domino-type tilings would err with certain
probability.
All the above results have only given the specific locally
indistinguishable orthogonal product basis quantum states in
3 ⊗ 3 and 4 ⊗ 4. They do not discuss the local indistinguisha-
bility in the higher-dimensional quantum systems. That is to
say, the exact relation between quantum entanglement and
quantum nonlocality is thus far unclear, and there are not any
general quantitative results either. Thus, finding the specific
locally indistinguishable orthogonal product basis quantum
states in the higher-dimensional quantum systems is still
meaningful and interesting.
*
gaofei_bupt@hotmail.com
In this paper, we focus on finding the specific locally
indistinguishable orthogonal product basis quantum states
in the higher-dimensional systems. To better understand the
phenomenon of nonlocality without entanglement, we first
construct 25 orthogonal product basis quantum states in 5 ⊗ 5.
And we prove these states cannot be exactly distinguished
by LOCC. Furthermore, we prove that there are d
2
LOCC
indistinguishable orthogonal product basis quantum states in
d ⊗ d, where d is odd. Next we generate the details of locally
indistinguishable product basis quantum states in the multi-
partite systems by employing these locally indistinguishable
product basis quantum states in the bipartite systems.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In
Sec. II, we review some previous results. In Sec. III,the
local indistinguishability of orthogonal product basis quantum
states is discussed. And we prove that there are d
2
locally
indistinguishable orthogonal product basis quantum states in
d ⊗ d, where d is odd. Finally, in Sec. IV,wedrawthe
conclusion.
II. PRELIMINARIES
In this section, we introduce some definitions and results
which are used in the following parts. In this paper, a set of
pairwise orthogonal multipartite product states that forms a
basis is called an orthogonal product basis quantum state.
Definition 1 [2]. Alice goes first if Alice is the first person
to perform a nontrivial measurement upon the system.
Definition 2. A set of bipartite states is symmetrically
distinguishable if for each party those states can be exactly
LOCC distinguished when that party goes first.
Lemma [2]. Alice and Bob share a (2 ⊗n)-dimensional
quantum system: Alice has a qubit, and Bob an n-dimensional
system that may be entangled with that qubit. If Alice goes
first, a set of orthogonal states {|ψ
i
} is exactly locally
distinguishable if and only if there is a basis {|0,|1}
A
such
that in that basis
|ψ
i
=|0
A
η
i
0
B
+|1
A
η
i
1
B
, (1)
where η
i
0
|η
j
0
=η
i
1
|η
j
1
=0ifi = j .
Now we are ready to present our main results as follows.
1050-2947/2014/90(2)/022313(4) 022313-1 ©2014 American Physical Society