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Dicke state

Quantum state

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Definition

Dicke states are defined in a system of N spin-s particles as the simultaneous eigenstates of the angular momentum operators J→2 and Jz by the equations

J→2|j,jz,α⟩=j(j+1)|j,jz,α⟩

and

Jz|j,jz,α⟩=jz|j,jz,α⟩.

Here, α is a label used to distinguish several states orthogonal to each other, for which the two eigenvalues are the same.

It is instructive to consider the s=1/2 case, namely an N-qubit system. For j=N/2, Dicke states are symmetric. In this case, we do not need the additional parameter α, since for a given jz, there is only a single simultaneous eigenstate of J→2 and Jz.

It is also common to use for the characterization of these states the quantity n=N/2−jz. They can be written as

|Dn(N)⟩=(Nn)−1/2∑kPk(|0⟩⊗(N−n)⊗|1⟩⊗n),

where n=0,1,...,N is the number of 1's, and the summation is over all distinct permutations.

A W-state is given as

|W⟩=1N(|1000...000⟩+|0100...000⟩+|0010...000⟩+...+|0000...001⟩)

and it equals the Dicke state |D1(N)⟩.

The entanglement properties of symmetric Dicke states have been studied extensively.

Symmetric Dicke states of N spin-s particles can easily be mapped to symmetric Dicke states of 2sN spin-1/2 particles.

The case of j<N/2, i.e., the case of non-symmetric Dicke states in multi-qubit systems is more complicated. In this case, the simultaneous eigenstates are denoted by |j,jz,α⟩, and we need now the α label to dinstinguish several eigenstates with the same eigenvalues orthogonal to each other. These states can also be obtained explicitly.

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