Entanglement, purity, and energy: Two qubits versus two modes

We study the relationship between the entanglement, mixedness, and energy of two-qubit and two-mode Gaussian quantum states. We parametrize the set of allowed states of these two fundamentally different physical systems using measures of entanglement, mixedness, and energy that allow us to compare and contrast the two systems using a phase diagram. This phase diagram enables one to clearly identify not only the physically allowed states, but the set of states connected under an arbitrary quantum operation. We pay particular attention to the maximally entangled mixed states of each system. Following this we investigate how efficiently one may transfer entanglement from two-mode to two-qubit states.