A generalization of Schmidt number for multipartite states

The Schmidt number is of crucial importance in characterizing the bipartite pure states. We explore and propose here a generalization of Schmidt number for states in multipartite systems. It is shown to be entanglement monotonic and valid for both pure and mixed states. In addition, the corresponding generalization of multipartite Schmidt coefficients is introduced. Our approach is applicable for systems with arbitrary number of parties and for arbitrary dimensions.