We provide a first operational method for checking local indistinguishability of orthogonal states. It originates from that in Ghosh et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 5807 (2001)], though we deal with pure states. Our method shows that probabilistic local distinguishing is possible for a complete multipartite orthogonal basis if and only if all vectors are product. Also, it leads to local indistinguishability of a set of orthogonal pure states of $3\otimes 3$, which shows that one can have more nonlocality with less entanglement, where “more nonlocality” is in the sense of “increased local indistinguishability of orthogonal states.” This is, to our knowledge, the only known example where $d$ orthogonal states in $d\otimes d$ are locally indistinguishable.

• Received 25 July 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.047902