Entanglement theory and the second law of thermodynamics

Abstract

Entanglement is central both to the foundations of quantum theory and, as a novel resource, to quantum information science. The theory of entanglement establishes basic laws that govern its manipulation, in particular the non-increase of entanglement under local operations on the constituent particles. Such laws aim to draw from them formal analogies to the second law of thermodynamics; however, whereas in the second law the entropy uniquely determines whether a state is adiabatically accessible from another, the manipulation of entanglement under local operations exhibits a fundamental irreversibility, which prevents the existence of such an order. Here, we show that a reversible theory of entanglement and a rigorous relationship with thermodynamics may be established when considering all non-entangling transformations. The role of the entropy in the second law is taken by the asymptotic relative entropy of entanglement in the basic law of entanglement. We show the usefulness of this approach to general resource theories and to quantum information theory. It is already known that the theory of quantum entanglement shares some analogies with the laws of thermodynamics. Now a rigorous and general link between the two fields has been established.

Cite this article

Brandão, F., Plenio, M. Entanglement theory and the second law of thermodynamics. Nature Phys 4, 873–877 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1100

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