The monogamy of entanglement is generally discussed using a bipartite entanglement measure as an upper bound. Here we discuss a new kind of monogamous relation where the upper bound is given by a multipartite measure of entanglement, the generalized concurrence. We show a monogamous equality involving the multipartite concurrence, all the bipartite concurrences, and the genuine tripartite entanglement for pure three-qubit systems. The result extends to mixed states in an inequality involving the generalized concurrence and all the bipartite concurrences. We provide a counterexample showing that the result cannot be extended for systems with more than three qubits.

• Received 3 February 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.87.032330