Conditional states and entropy in qudit-qubit systems

We examine, in correlated mixed states of qudit-qubit systems, the set of all conditional qubit states that can be reached after local measurements at the qudit based on rank-1 projectors. While for a similar measurement at the qubit the conditional postmeasurement qudit states lie on the surface of an ellipsoid, for a measurement at the qudit we show that the set of postmeasurement qubit states can form more complex solid regions. In particular, we show the emergence, for some classes of mixed states, of sets which are the convex hull of solid ellipsoids and which may lead to conelike and trianglelike shapes in limit cases. We also analyze the associated measurement-dependent conditional entropy, providing a full analytic determination of its minimum and of the minimizing local measurement at the qudit for the previous states. Separable rank-2 mixtures are also discussed.