Maximally entangled three-qubit states via geometric measure of entanglement

Bipartite maximally entangled states have the property that the largest Schmidt coefficient reaches its lower bound. However, for multipartite states, the standard Schmidt decomposition generally does not exist. We use a generalized Schmidt decomposition and the geometric measure of entanglement to characterize three-qubit pure states and derive a single-parameter family of maximally entangled three-qubit states. The paradigmatic Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) and W states emerge as extreme members in this family of maximally entangled states. This family of states possesses different trends of entanglement behavior: in going from GHZ to W states, the geometric measure, the relative entropy of entanglement, and the bipartite entanglement all increase monotonically whereas the three-tangle and bipartition negativity both decrease monotonically. ©2009 The American Physical Society