Certification and applications of quantum nonlocal correlations

Abstract

Entanglement and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) steering are nonlocal quantum correlations, which are relevant resources for quantum information protocols. EPR steering, or quantum steering, refers to the correlation where a party might ‘steer’, or modify, the state of another, which is spatially separated. Entanglement is a symmetric resource while steering is asymmetrical, since it depends on the direction of the effect. Due to these different characteristics and the therefore different possible applications, there has been both theoretical and experimental research on forms to certify the distinct quantum nonlocal correlations. In recent years, alongside the investigation on quantum correlations between two systems, there has been a great interest in investigating multipartite/multimode entanglement as well as steering, since they include a high dimension and it may be possible to store more information than in a single qubit. In this review, we will summarize the different criteria and measures that have been developed for the characterization of these two kinds of correlations. We first focus on bipartite entanglement and steering. We then review the progress that has been made in the investigation of multipartite quantum correlations. We revise the theoretical work in quantum nonlocal correlation witnesses and measures, which respectively allow one to certify that the system is entangled or presents EPR steering, and give a quantification of the content of these correlations in the system. Then, we briefly review the experiments that have been designed and that demonstrate multipartite quantum correlations. We also include applications in quantum information protocols, in particular in quantum teleportation and quantum cryptography.