Partial-transpose-guided entanglement classes and minimum noise filtering in many-body Gaussian quantum systems

Abstract

The reduction and distortion of quantum correlations in the presence of classical noise leads to varied levels of inefficiency in the availability of entanglement as a resource for quantum information processing protocols. While generically minimizing required entanglement for mixed quantum states remains challenging, a class of many-body Gaussian quantum states ($\mathcal{N}$IC) is here identified that exhibits two-mode bipartite entanglement structure, resembling that of pure states, for which the logarithmic negativity entanglement measure remains invariant upon inclusion of the classical correlations and optimal entanglement resources can be clearly quantified. This subclass is found to be embedded within a broader class of many-body Gaussian states ($\mathcal{N}$-SOL) that retain two-mode entanglement structure for detection processes. These two entanglement classes are relevant in theoretical and experimental applications from the scalar field vacuum to the local axial motional modes of trapped ion chains. Utilizing the subspace that heralds inseparability in response to partial transposition, a minimum noise filtering process is designed to be necessary, sufficient, and computable for determining membership in these classes of entanglement structure. Application of this process to spacelike regions of the free scalar field vacuum is found to improve resource upper bounds, providing new understanding of the entanglement required for the quantum simulation of quantum fields as observed by arrays of local detectors.