Entanglement is the resource to overcome the restriction of operations to local operations assisted by classical communication (LOCC). The maximally entangled set (MES) of states is the minimal set of $n$-partite pure states with the property that any truly $n$-partite entangled pure state can be obtained deterministically via LOCC from some state in this set. Hence, this set contains the most useful states for applications. In this work, we characterize the MES for generic three-qutrit states. Moreover, we analyze which generic three-qutrit states are reachable (and convertible) under LOCC transformations. To this end, we study reachability via separable operations (SEP), a class of operations that is strictly larger than LOCC. Interestingly, we identify a family of pure states that can be obtained deterministically via SEP but not via LOCC. This gives an affirmative answer to the question of whether there is a difference between SEP and LOCC for transformations among pure states.

• Received 11 November 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.012339