Quantum mappings and characterization of entangled quantum states

We review quantum mappings used in problems of characterization of entanglement of two-part and multi-particle systems. Together with positive and $n$-tensorial constant positive mappings, we consider physical dynamical processes that lead to quantum channels that break entanglement, annihilate entanglement, dissociate entanglement of multi-particle states, and prohibit distillation of output states. We introduce a new class of absolutely disentangling channels that provide absolutely separable states at the output, and also characterize a new class of entanglement-imposing channels whose output states are entangled. We present states that are most resistant to loss of entanglementand prove that they may differ from maximally entangled states.