Operational Entanglement Families of Symmetric Mixed N-Qubit States

Abstract: We introduce an operational entanglement classification of symmetric mixed states for an arbitrary number of qubits based on stochastic local operations assisted with classical communication (SLOCC operations). We define families of SLOCC entanglement classes successively embedded into each other, we prove that they are of non-zero measure, and we construct witness operators to distinguish them. Moreover, we discuss how arbitrary symmetric mixed states can be realized in the lab via a one-to-one correspondence between well-defined sets of controllable parameters and the corresponding entanglement families.