Remarks on 2–q-bit states

Abstract.We distinguish six classes of families of locally equivalent states in a straightforward scheme for classifying all 2–q-bit states; four of the classes consist of two subclasses each. The simple criteria that we stated recently for checking a given state’s positivity and separability are justified, and we discuss some important properties of Lewenstein–Sanpera decompositions. An upper bound is conjectured for the sum of the degree of separability of a 2–q-bit state and its concurrence.