Multi-copy adaptive local discrimination: Strongest possible two-qubit nonlocal bases

Abstract: Ensembles of composite quantum states can exhibit nonlocal behaviour in the sense that their optimal discrimination may require global operations. Such an ensemble containing N pairwise orthogonal pure states, however, can always be perfectly distinguished under adaptive local scheme if (N-1) copies of the state are available. In this letter, we provide examples of orthonormal bases in two-qubit Hilbert space whose adaptive discrimination require 3 copies of the state. For this composite system we analyze multi-copy adaptive local distinguishability of orthogonal ensembles in full generality which in turn assigns varying nonlocal strength to different such ensembles. We also come up with ensembles whose discrimination under adaptive separable scheme require less number of copies than adaptive local schemes. Our construction finds important application in multipartite secret sharing tasks and indicates towards an intriguing super-additivity phenomenon for locally accessible information.