English

On an Extension Problem for Density Matrices

Quantum Physics 2015-06-12 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We investigate the problem of the existence of a density matrix rho on the product of three Hilbert spaces with given marginals on the pair (1,2) and the pair (2,3). While we do not solve this problem completely we offer partial results in the form of some necessary and some sufficient conditions on the two marginals. The quantum case differs markedly from the classical (commutative) case, where the obvious necessary compatibility condition suffices, namely, trace_1 (rho_{12}) = \trace_3 (rho_{23}).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1301.4605,
  title  = {On an Extension Problem for Density Matrices},
  author = {Eric A. Carlen and Joel L. Lebowitz and Elliott H. Lieb},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.4605},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

12 pages latex

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