According to recent new definitions, a multiparty behavior is genuinely multipartite nonlocal (GMNL) if it cannot be modeled by measurements on an underlying network of bipartite-only nonlocal resources, possibly supplemented with local (classical) resources shared by all parties. The new definitions differ on whether to allow entangled measurements upon, and/or superquantum behaviors among, the underlying bipartite resources. Here, we categorize the full hierarchy of these new candidate definitions of GMNL in three-party quantum networks, highlighting the intimate link to device-independent witnesses of network effects. A key finding is the existence of a behavior in the simplest nontrivial multipartite measurement scenario (three parties, two measurement settings, and two outcomes) that cannot be simulated in a bipartite network prohibiting entangled measurements and superquantum resources—thus witnessing the most general form of GMNL—but can be simulated with bipartite-only quantum states with an entangled measurement, indicating an approach to device-independent certification of entangled measurements with fewer settings than in previous protocols. Surprisingly, we also find that this (3,2,2) behavior, as well as the others previously studied as device-independent witnesses of entangled measurements, can all be simulated at a higher echelon of the GMNL hierarchy that allows superquantum bipartite resources while still prohibiting entangled measurements. This poses a challenge to a theory-independent understanding of entangled measurements as an observable phenomenon distinct from bipartite nonlocality.

• Received 31 January 2023
• Accepted 19 May 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.250201