Acín decomposition

In a 2000 paper titled "Generalized Schmidt Decomposition and Classification of Three-Quantum-Bit States"[1] Acín et al. described a way of separating out one of the terms of a general tripartite quantum state.

This can be useful in considering measures of entanglement of quantum states.

For a general three-qubit state

|

ψ ⟩ =

a

000

|

0

|

0

|

+

a

|

there is no way of writing

ψ

λ

λ

but there is a general transformation to

ψ ⟩ =

λ

λ

i ϕ

λ

λ

λ

λ

λ