Can distillable entanglement be computed in general?

Unresolved.

The one-way rate has a coding theorem, but it is a regularised optimisation over many copies.

Still unknown

Single-letter formulas are known only in special classes, such as degradable and PPT states, with new non-degradable families added in 2026. No general tractable formula is known, so most work goes into bounds.

Connections

Part of: Measures
See also: Do bound entangled states with a negative partial transpose exist?
See also: Noisy entanglement can be purified by LOCC

Sources

Distillation of secret key and entanglement from quantum states. I. Devetak, A. Winter, 2003.
Useful states and entanglement distillation. F. Leditzky, N. Datta, G. Smith, 2017.
Single-letter one-way distillable entanglement for non-degradable states. R. G. Ahmed, G. Smith, P. Wu, 2026.

Checked 2026-10-30.