Hidden entanglement in Gaussian cluster states
Carlos González-Arciniegas, P. Nussenzveig, M. Martinelli, Olivier Pfister · arXiv (Cornell University) · 2019
Continuous-variable (CV) cluster states are a universal quantum computing platform that has experimentally out-scaled qubit platforms by orders of magnitude. The implementation of CV cluster states uses multimode squeezed Gaussian states and fault tolerance thresholds for CV quantum computing have been predicted for realistic squeezing. An outstanding question has been whether any Gaussian state can be expressed as a cluster state. We show here that Gaussian states can present hidden entanglement, which is not captured by the corresponding cluster state graph and therefore invalidates this graph. Hidden entanglement vanishes in the infinite squeezing limit, which should therefore be used with extreme caution. We derive a general procedure to detect hidden entanglement in an arbitrary Gaussian state and validate it as a CV cluster state. These results are relevant to all experimental implementations of CV cluster states to date.