Quantum marginal problem and N-representability

A fermionic version of the quantum marginal problem was known from the early sixties as N-representability problem. In 1995 it was mentioned by the National Research Council of the USA as one of ten most prominent research challenges in quantum chemistry. In spite of this recognition the progress was very slow, until a couple of years ago the problem came into focus again, now in the framework of quantum information theory. In the paper I give a survey of the recent development. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd