Number-phase entanglement and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering

We use the uncertainty relation between the operators associated with the total number of particles and with the relative phase of two bosonic modes to construct entanglement and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering criteria. These can be tested experimentally in a variety of systems, such as optical fields, Bose-Einstein condensates, and mechanical oscillators. While known entanglement criteria involving the phase observable typically require us to perform interference measurements by recombining the two systems, our criteria can be tested through local measurements at two spatially distinct positions to investigate the nonlocal nature of quantum correlations. We present simple examples where our criteria are violated and show their robustness to noise. Apart from being useful for state characterization, they might find application in quantum information protocols, for example, based on number-phase teleportation.