Activation of entanglement from quantum coherence and superposition

Abstract

Quantum entanglement and coherence are two fundamental features of nature, arising from the superposition principle of quantum mechanics. While considered as puzzling phenomena in the early days of quantum theory, it is only very recently that entanglement and coherence have been recognized as resources for the emerging quantum technologies, including quantum metrology, quantum communication, and quantum computing. In this work we study the limitations for the interconversion between coherence and entanglement. We prove a fundamental no-go theorem, stating that a general resource theory of superposition does not allow for entanglement activation. By constructing a CNOT gate as a free operation, we experimentally show that such activation is possible within the more constrained framework of quantum coherence. Our results provide new insights into the interplay between coherence and entanglement, representing a substantial step forward for solving longstanding open questions in quantum information science.

11 pages, 5 figures, Submitted

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• Measuring Quantum Coherence with Entanglement
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• A resource theory of superposition
• Linking a distance measure of entanglement to its convex roof
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• Quantifying quantum coherence in polariton condensates
• Certifiable Lower Bounds of Wigner Negativity Volume and Non-Gaussian Entanglement with Conditional Displacement Gates
• Resource conversion between operational coherence and multipartite entanglement in many-body systems
• All entangled states are quantum coherent with locally distinguishable bases
• Proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of quantum gate verification
• Hallmarking quantum states: unified framework for coherence and correlations
• Interconversion between block coherence and multipartite entanglement in many-body systems
• Distillation of maximally correlated bosonic matter from many-body quantum coherence
• Unconditionally superposition-robust entangled state in all multiparty quantum systems
• Protocols for sharing genuine multipartite entanglement by employing copies of biseparable states