Optimal resource states for local state discrimination

We study the problem of locally distinguishing pure quantum states using shared entanglement as a resource. For a given set of locally indistinguishable states we define a resource state to be useful if it can enhance local distinguishability and optimal if it can distinguish the states as well as global measurements and is also minimal with respect to a partial ordering defined by entanglement and dimension. We present examples of useful resources and show that an entangled state need not be useful for distinguishing a given set of states. We obtain optimal resources with explicit local protocols to distinguish multipartite GHZ and Graph states; and also show that a maximally entangled state is an optimal resource under one-way LOCC to distinguish any bipartite orthonormal basis which contains at least one entangled state of full Schmidt rank. Electronic address: [email protected] Electronic address: [email protected]