Entangled detectors nonperturbatively harvest mutual information

Abstract

We investigate how entangled inertial Unruh-DeWitt detectors are affected by interaction with a quantum field using a nonperturbative method. Inertial detectors in a ($3+1$)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime with instantaneous switching ($\ensuremath{\delta}$-switching) experience degradation of their initial entanglement as their coupling strength with a scalar field increases. Somewhat surprisingly, initially separable or weakly entangled detectors can extract mutual information from the vacuum. We also find that entanglement degradation is not reduced if communication via the field is possible; rather this only changes the manner in which entanglement is degraded.