The three kinds of three-qubit entanglement

arXiv:2511.07617 · quant-ph, math-ph, math.MP · Submitted 2025-11-10 · Read on arXiv

quant-ph, math-ph, math.MP

Submitted: 2025-11-10

Updated: 2026-10-16

Comments: revised version, accepted in Quantum, 8+4 pages, 4 figures

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: We construct an important missing piece in the entanglement theory of pure three-qubit states, which is a polynomial measure of W-entanglement.

Terminology

Abstract

We construct an important missing piece in the entanglement theory of pure three-qubit states, which is a polynomial measure of W-entanglement. This works in parallel to the three-tangle, which is a polynomial measure of GHZ-entanglement, and to the bipartite concurrence, which is a polynomial measure of bipartite entanglement. We also show that these entanglement measures are ordered, the bipartite measure is larger than the W measure, which is larger than the GHZ measure. It is meaningful then to consider these three types of three-qubit entanglement, which are also ordered, bipartite is weaker than W, which is weaker than GHZ, in parallel to the order of the three kinds of equivalence classes of entangled three-qubit states.

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