Multipartite entanglement, quantum-error-correcting codes, and entangling power of quantum evolutions

Abstract

We investigate the average bipartite entanglement, over all possible divisions of a multipartite system, as a useful measure of multipartite entanglement. We expose a connection between such measures and quantum-error-correcting codes by deriving a formula relating the weight distribution of the code to the average entanglement of encoded states. The multipartite entangling power of quantum evolutions is also investigated.