English

Wigner negativity and stellar rank for SU(1,1) states

Quantum Physics 2026-07-24 v1 Mathematical Physics

Abstract

Quasiprobability distributions for systems endowed with SU(1,1) dynamical symmetry have received surprisingly little attention, despite the central role of this symmetry in two-photon physics, squeezed states, and nonlinear interferometry. Here, we fill this gap by constructing a full covariant family of ss-ordered quasiprobability distributions defined on the two-sheeted hyperboloid, or equivalently, on the Poincar\'e unit disk via stereographic projection. A key result is that the Wigner function is strictly positive for all Perelomov SU(1,1) coherent states, in sharp contrast to the SU(2) case. This positivity endows Wigner negativity with an unambiguous operational meaning: any negative volume is a direct signature of genuinely quantum behavior. We further examine the stellar rank of SU(1,1) states, defined through the zeros of the Husimi QQ-function, and show how it compares with Wigner negativity as a geometry-adapted witness of nonclassicality in this setting. We further introduce a hierarchy of generalized multipoles through a harmonic expansion of the density operator on the hyperboloid, providing a complementary framework for probing quantumness. This offers a comprehensive toolkit for characterizing and quantifying quantum resources in SU(1,1) systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.22810,
  title  = {Wigner negativity and stellar rank for SU(1,1) states},
  author = {A. B. Klimov and A. Muñoz and F. Leuchs and J. -P. Gazeau and L. L. Sanchez-Soto},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.22810},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

18 pages, 3 color figures. Comments welcome