Entanglement beyond tensor product structure: algebraic aspects of quantum non - separability

Abstract: Algebraic approach to quantum non - separability is applied to the case of two qubits. It is based on the partition of the algebra of observables into independent subalgebras and the tensor product structure of the Hilbert space is not exploited. Even in this simple case, such general formulation has some advantages. Using algebraic formalism we can explicitly show the relativity of the notion of entanglement to the observables measured in the system and characterize separable and non - separable pure states. As a universal measure of non - separability of pure states we propose to take so called total correlation. This quantity depends on the state as well as on the algebraic partition. Its numerical value is given by the norm of the corresponding correlation matrix