The K-way negativities as entanglement measures

A classification of N-partite states, based on K-way negativities (K=2 to N), is proposed. The K-way partial transpose with respect to a subsystem is defined so as to shift the focus to K-way coherences instead of K subsystems of the composite system. For an N-partite system, the fraction of K-way negativity contributing to global negativity, is obtained. After minimizing K-way negativities through local unitary qubit rotations, a combined analysis of 2-way, 3-way and global negativities is shown to provide distinct measures of genuine tripartite, W-state like and bipartite entanglement, for three qubit composite system. To illustrate the point, entanglement of three qubit GHZ class states, W-class states, three boson state and noisy states is analysed. While genuine N-partite entanglement of a composite system is generated by N-way coherences, N-partite entanglement in general can be present due to (K<N)-way coherences as well.