Statistical mechanics of multipartite entanglement

　The characterization and quantification of entanglement is an open andchallenging problem. It is possible to give a good definition ofbipartite entanglement in terms of the von Neumann entropy and theentanglement of formation. The problem of defining multipartiteentanglement is more difficult and no unique definition exists.
　I introduce the notion of maximally multipartite entangled states(MMES) of n qubits as a generalization of the bipartite case. Theirbipartite entanglement does not depend on the bipartition and ismaximal for all possible bipartitions.
　Some examples of MMES forn=3,4,6 and 7 are investigated. These states are the solutions of anoptimization problem, that can be recast in terms of statistical mechanics.