The joint state, , of two quantum systems and is separable [WN17, Definition 2.1.1] if there exists a probability distribution , and sets of density matrices and such that
(1)
If such an expression for does not exist, is entangled [WN17, Definition 2.1.1].
Specifically, if is a pure state, then is separable if and only there exists and such that
This example is meant to highlight the difference between the following two states:
where . is separable whereas is not.
Consider the outcomes of measuring subsystem in and in the standard basis and in the Hadamard basis.
Measuring subsystem of in the Hadamard basis:
Define the measurement operators to be and , where and . Clearly, and .
Using projective measurement, the post-measurement state conditioned on measurement outcome is
Let us work out the numerator and the denominator separately, starting with the numerator:
The preceding equality follows from these identities, which you will derive in the practical:
The denominator is:
The preceding computation is tedious but straightforward given the right tool (e.g., NumPy). Combining the results for the numerator and denominator, we get
Thus, upon measuring a on subsystem , subsystem can be in either or at equal probabilities; we say the reduced state on is maximally mixed.
Measuring subsystem of in the Hadamard basis:
The pair of and can be re-expressed as and , because ‘’ is orthogonal to ‘’ just as ‘’ is orthogonal to ‘’.
The preceding statement implies when is measured on subsystem , subsystem is in state as well.