Entanglement, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations, Bell nonlocality, and steering

Abstract

In a recent work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 140402 (2007)] we defined ``steering,'' a type of quantum nonlocality that is logically distinct from both nonseparability and Bell nonlocality. In the bipartite setting, it hinges on the question of whether Alice can affect Bob's state at a distance through her choice of measurement. More precisely and operationally, it hinges on the question of whether Alice, with classical communication, can convince Bob that they share an entangled state under the circumstances that Bob trusts nothing that Alice says. We argue that if she can, then this demonstrates the nonlocal effect first identified in the famous Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paper [Phys. Rev. 47, 777 (1935)] as a universal effect for pure entangled states. This ability of Alice to remotely prepare Bob's state was subsequently called steering by Schr\"odinger, whose terminology we adopt. The phenomenon of steering has been largely overlooked, and prior to our work had not even been given a rigorous definition that is applicable to mixed states as well as pure states. Armed with our rigorous definition, we proved that steerable states are a strict subset of the entangled states, and a strict superset of the states that can exhibit Bell nonlocality. In this work we expand on these results and provide further examples of steerable states. We also elaborate on the connection with the original EPR paradox.