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A distributed sensing protocol uses a network of local sensing nodes to estimate a global feature of the network, such as a weighted average of locally detectable parameters. In the noiseless case, continuous-variable (CV) multipartite entanglement shared by the nodes can improve the precision of parameter estimation relative to the precision attainable by a network without shared entanglement; for an entangled protocol, the root mean square estimation error scales like 1/M with the number M of sensing nodes, the so-called Heisenberg scaling, while for protocols without entanglement, the error scales like 1 M . However, in the presence of loss and other noise sources, although multipartite entanglement still has some advantages for sensing displacements and phases, the scaling of the precision with M is less favorable. In this paper, we show that using CV error correction codes can enhance the robustness of sensing protocols against imperfections and reinstate Heisenberg scaling up to moderate values of M. Furthermore, while previous distributed sensing protocols could measure only a single quadrature, we construct a protocol in which both quadratures can be sensed simultaneously. Our work demonstrates the value of CV error correction codes in realistic sensing scenarios.

It remains an open question whether every pure multipartite state that is genuinely entangled is also genuinely nonlocal. Recently, a new general construction of Bell inequalities allowing the detection of genuine multipartite nonlocality (GMNL) in quantum states was proposed in Curchod et al (2019 New J. Phys. 21 023016) with the aim of addressing the above problem. Here we show how, in a simple manner, one can improve this construction to deliver finer Bell inequalities for detection of GMNL. Remarkably, we then prove one of the improved Bell inequalities to be powerful enough to detect GMNL in every three-qubit genuinely entangled state. We also generalize some of these inequalities to detect not only GMNL but also nonlocality depth in multipartite states and we present a possible way of generalizing them to the case of more outcomes.

The laws of quantum mechanics allow for the distribution of a secret random key between two parties. Here we analyse the security of a protocol for establishing a common secret key between N parties (i.e. a conference key), using resource states with genuine N-partite entanglement. We compare this protocol to conference key distribution via bipartite entanglement, regarding the required resources, achievable secret key rates and threshold qubit error rates. Furthermore we discuss quantum networks with bottlenecks for which our multipartite entanglement-based protocol can benefit from network coding, while the bipartite protocol cannot. It is shown how this advantage leads to a higher secret key rate.

Characterizing genuine multipartite quantum correlations in quantum physical systems has historically been a challenging problem in quantum information theory. More recently, however, the total correlation or multipartite information measure has been helpful in accomplishing this goal, especially with the multipartite symmetric quantum (MSQ) discord (Piani et al. 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 090502. (doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.090502)) and the conditional entanglement of multipartite information (CEMI) (Yang et al. 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 140501. (doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.140501)). Here, we apply a recent and significant improvement of strong subadditivity of quantum entropy (Fawzi & Renner 2014 (http://arxiv.org/abs/1410.0664)) in order to develop these quantities further. In particular, we prove that the MSQ discord is nearly equal to zero if and only if the multipartite state for which it is evaluated is approximately locally recoverable after performing measurements on each of its systems. Furthermore, we prove that the CEMI is a faithful entanglement measure, i.e. it vanishes if and only if the multipartite state for which it is evaluated is a fully separable state. Along the way, we provide an operational interpretation of the MSQ discord in terms of the partial state distribution protocol, which in turn, as a special case, gives an interpretation for the original discord quantity. Finally, we prove an inequality that could potentially improve upon the Fawzi-Renner inequality in the multipartite context, but it remains an open question to determine whether this is so.

We study genuine multipartite entanglement (GME) and multipartite k-entanglement based on q-concurrence. Well-defined parameterized GME measures and measures of multipartite k-entanglement are presented for arbitrary dimensional n-partite quantum systems. Our GME measures show that the GHZ state is more entangled than the W state. Moreover, our measures are shown to be inequivalent to the existing measures according to entanglement ordering. Detailed examples show that our measures characterize the multipartite entanglement finer than some existing measures, in the sense that our measures identify the difference of two different states while the latter fail.

Let c be an integer. A c-partite tournament is an orientation of a complete c-partite graph. A c-partite tournament is rich if it is strong, and each partite set has at least two vertices. In 1996, Guo and Volkmann characterized the structure of all rich c-partite tournaments without (c + 1)-cycles, which solved a problem by Bondy. They also put forward a problem that what the structure of rich c-partite tournaments without (c + k)-cycles for some k>1 is. In this paper, we answer the question of Guo and Volkmann for k = 2.

We study the acceleration effect on the genuine tripartite entanglement for one or two accelerated detector(s) coupled to the vacuum field. Surprisingly, we find that the increase and decrease in entanglement have no definite correspondence with the Unruh and anti-Unruh effects. Specifically, Unruh effect can not only decrease but also enhance the tripartite entanglement between detectors; also, anti-Unruh effect can not only enhance but also decrease the tripartite entanglement. We give an explanation of this phenomenon. Finally, we extend the discussion from tripartite to N -partite systems.

The intense research activity on Twin-Field (TF) quantum key distribution (QKD) is motivated by the fact that two users can establish a secret key by relying on single-photon interference in an untrusted node. Thanks to this feature, variants of the protocol have been proven to beat the point-to-point private capacity of a lossy quantum channel. Here we generalize the main idea of the TF-QKD protocol introduced by Curty et al to the multipartite scenario, by devising a conference key agreement (CKA) where the users simultaneously distill a secret conference key through single-photon interference. The new CKA is better suited to high-loss scenarios than previous multipartite QKD schemes and it employs for the first time a W-class state as its entanglement resource. We prove the protocol's security in the finite-key regime and under general attacks. We also compare its performance with the iterative use of bipartite QKD protocols and show that our truly multipartite scheme can be advantageous, depending on the loss and on the state preparation.

The task of classifying the entanglement properties of a multipartite quantum state poses a remarkable challenge due to the exponentially increasing number of ways in which quantum systems can share quantum correlations. Tackling such challenge requires a combination of sophisticated theoretical and computational techniques. In this paper we combine machine-learning tools and the theory of quantum entanglement to perform entanglement classification for multipartite qubit systems in pure states. We use a parameterisation of quantum systems using artificial neural networks in a restricted Boltzmann machine architecture, known as Neural Network Quantum States, whose entanglement properties can be deduced via a constrained, reinforcement learning procedure. In this way, Separable Neural Network States can be used to build entanglement witnesses for any target state.

Finding ways to test the behaviour of quantum devices is a timely enterprise, especially in light of the rapid development of quantum technologies. Device-independent self-testing is one desirable approach, as it makes minimal assumptions on the devices being tested. In this work, we address the question of which states can be self-tested. This has been answered recently in the bipartite case (Coladangelo et al 2017 Nat. Commun. 8 15485), while it is largely unexplored in the multipartite case, with only a few scattered results, using a variety of different methods: maximal violation of a Bell inequality, numerical SWAP method, stabiliser self-testing etc. In this work, we investigate a simple, and potentially unifying, approach: combining projections onto two-qubit spaces (projecting parties or degrees of freedom) and then using maximal violation of the tilted CHSH inequalities. This allows one to obtain self-testing of Dicke states and partially entangled GHZ states with two measurements per party, and also to recover self-testing of graph states (previously known only through stabiliser methods). Finally, we give the first self-test of a class of multipartite qudit states: we generalise the self-testing of partially entangled GHZ states by adapting techniques from (Coladangelo et al 2017 Nat. Commun. 8 15485), and show that all multipartite states which admit a Schmidt decomposition can be self-tested with few measurements.