We prove a version of the quantum de Finetti theorem: permutation-invariant quantum states are well approximated as a probabilistic mixture of multifold product states. The approximation is measured by distinguishability under measurements that are implementable by fully-one-way local operations and classical communication (LOCC). Our result strengthens Brandão and Harrow’s de Finetti theorem where a kind of partially-one-way LOCC measurements was used for measuring the approximation, with essentially the same error bound. As main applications, we show (i) a quasipolynomial-time algorithm which detects multipartite entanglement with an amount larger than an arbitrarily small constant (measured with a variant of the relative entropy of entanglement), and (ii) a proof that in quantum Merlin-Arthur proof systems, polynomially many provers are not more powerful than a single prover when the verifier is restricted to one-way LOCC operations.

• Received 24 September 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.160503