Entanglement Scaling Research Articles

An area law for entanglement from exponential decay of correlations

Area laws for entanglement in quantum many-body systems give useful information about their low-temperature behaviour and are tightly connected to the possibility of good numerical simulations. An intuition from quantum many-body physics suggests that an area law should hold whenever there is exponential decay of correlations in the system, a property found, for instance, in non-critical phases of matter. However, the existence of quantum data-hiding state--that is, states having very small correlations, yet a volume scaling of entanglement--was believed to be a serious obstruction to such an implication. Here we prove that notwithstanding the phenomenon of data hiding, one-dimensional quantum many-body states satisfying exponential decay of correlations always fulfil an area law. To obtain this result we combine several recent advances in quantum information theory, thus showing the usefulness of the field for addressing problems in other areas of physics.

Entanglement witnesses and measures for bright squeezed vacuum

Quantum entanglement is a fascinating phenomenon, especially if it is observed at the macroscopic scale. Importantly, macroscopic quantum correlations can be revealed only by accurate measurement outcomes and strategies. Here, we formulate feasible entanglement witnesses for bright squeezed vacuum in the form of the macroscopically populated polarization triplet Bell states. Their testing involves efficient photodetection and the measurement of the Stokes operators variances. We also calculate the measures of entanglement for these states such as the Schmidt number and the logarithmic negativity. Our results show that the bright squeezed vacuum degree of polarization entanglement scales as the mean photon number squared. We analyze the applicability of an operational analog of the Schmidt number.

Matrix product states for critical spin chains: Finite-size versus finite-entanglement scaling

We investigate the use of matrix product states (MPS) to approximate ground states of critical quantum spin chains with periodic boundary conditions (PBC). We identify two regimes in the (N,D) parameter plane, where N is the size of the spin chain and D is the dimension of the MPS matrices. In the first regime MPS can be used to perform finite size scaling (FSS). In the complementary regime the MPS simulations show instead the clear signature of finite entanglement scaling (FES). In the thermodynamic limit (or large N limit), only MPS in the FSS regime maintain a finite overlap with the exact ground state. This observation has implications on how to correctly perform FSS with MPS, as well as on the performance of recent MPS algorithms for systems with PBC. It also gives clear evidence that critical models can actually be simulated very well with MPS by using the right scaling relations; in the appendix, we give an alternative derivation of the result of Pollmann et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 255701 (2009)] relating the bond dimension of the MPS to an effective correlation length.

Measuring Entanglement Entropy of a Generic Many-Body System with a Quantum Switch

Entanglement entropy has become an important theoretical concept in condensed matter physics because it provides a unique tool for characterizing quantum mechanical many-body phases and new kinds of quantum order. However, the experimental measurement of entanglement entropy in a many-body system is widely believed to be unfeasible, owing to the nonlocal character of this quantity. Here, we propose a general method to measure the entanglement entropy. The method is based on a quantum switch (a two-level system) coupled to a composite system consisting of several copies of the original many-body system. The state of the switch controls how different parts of the composite system connect to each other. We show that, by studying the dynamics of the quantum switch only, the Rényi entanglement entropy of the many-body system can be extracted. We propose a possible design of the quantum switch, which can be realized in cold atomic systems. Our work provides a route towards testing the scaling of entanglement in critical systems as well as a method for a direct experimental detection of topological order.

Entanglement scaling in two-dimensional gapless systems

We numerically determine subleading scaling terms in the ground-state entanglement entropy of several two-dimensional (2D) gapless systems, including a Heisenberg model with N\'eel order, a free Dirac fermion in the {\pi}-flux phase, and the nearest-neighbor resonating-valence-bond wavefunction. For these models, we show that the entanglement entropy between cylindrical regions of length x and L - x, extending around a torus of length L, depends upon the dimensionless ratio x/L. This can be well-approximated on finite-size lattices by a function ln(sin({\pi}x/L)), akin to the familiar chord-length dependence in one dimension. We provide evidence, however, that the precise form of this bulk-dependent contribution is a more general function in the 2D thermodynamic limit.

Simplified instantaneous non-local quantum computation with applications to position-based cryptography

Instantaneous measurements of non-local observables between space-like separated regions can be performed without violating causality. This feat relies on the use of entanglement. Here we propose novel protocols for this task and the related problem of multipartite quantum computation with local operations and a single round of classical communication. Compared to previously known techniques, our protocols reduce the entanglement consumption by an exponential amount. We also prove a linear lower bound on the amount of entanglement required for the implementation of a certain non-local measurement. These results relate to position-based cryptography: an amount of entanglement scaling exponentially with the number of communicated qubits is sufficient to render any such scheme insecure. Furthermore, we show that certain schemes are secure under the assumption that the adversary has less entanglement than a given bound and is restricted to classical communication.

TWO-IMPURITY KONDO MODEL: SPIN-ORBIT INTERACTIONS AND ENTANGLEMENT

Motivated by proposals to employ RKKY-coupled spins as building blocks in a solid-state quantum computer, we analyze how the RKKY interaction in a 2D electron gas is influenced by spin-orbit interactions. Using a two-impurity Kondo model with added Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit interactions we find that spin-rotational invariance of the RKKY interaction — essential for a well-controllable two-qubit gate — is restored when tuning the Rashba coupling to have the same strength as the Dresselhaus coupling. We also discuss the critical properties of the two-impurity Kondo model in the presence of spin-orbit interactions, and extract the leading correction to the block entanglement scaling due to these interactions.

Optimal verification of entanglement in a photonic cluster state experiment

We report on the quantification of entanglement by means of entanglement measures on a four- and a six-qubit cluster state realized by using photons entangled both in polarization and linear momentum. This paper also addresses the question of the scaling of entanglement bounds from incomplete tomographic information on the density matrix under realistic experimental conditions.

Global geometric entanglement in transverse-field XY spin chains: finite and infinite systems

The entanglement in quantum XY spin chains of arbitrary length is investigated via the geometric measure of entanglement. The emergence of entanglement is explained intuitively from the perspective of perturbations. The model is solved exactly and the energy spectrum is determined and analyzed in particular for the lowest two levels for both finite and infinite systems. The overlaps for these two levels are calculated analytically for arbitrary number of spins. The entanglement is hence obtained by maximizing over a single parameter. The corresponding ground-state entanglement surface is then determined over the entire phase diagram, and its behavior can be used to delineate the boundaries in the phase diagram. For example, the field-derivative of the entanglement becomes singular along the critical line. The form of the divergence is derived analytically and it turns out to be dictated by the universality class controlling the quantum phase transition. The behavior of the entanglement near criticality can be understood via a scaling hypothesis, analogous to that for free energies. The entanglement density vanishes along the so-called disorder line in the phase diagram, the ground space is doubly degenerate and spanned by two product states. The entanglement for the superposition of the lowest two states is also calculated. The exact value of the entanglement depends on the specific form of superposition. However, in the thermodynamic limit the entanglement density turns out to be independent of the superposition. This proves that the entanglement density is insensitive to whether the ground state is chosen to be the spontaneously $Z_2$ symmetry broken one or not. The finite-size scaling of entanglement at critical points is also investigated from two different view points. First, the maximum in the field-derivative of the entanglement density is computed and fitted to a logarithmic dependence of the system size, thereby deducing the correlation length exponent for the Ising class using only the behavior of entanglement. Second, the entanglement density itself is shown to possess a correction term inversely proportional to the system size, with the coefficient being universal (but with different values for the ground state and the first excited state, respectively).

Modular Entanglement

We introduce and discuss the concept of modular entanglement. This is the entanglement that is established between the end points of modular systems composed by sets of interacting moduli of arbitrarily fixed size. We show that end-to-end modular entanglement scales in the thermodynamic limit and rapidly saturates with the number of constituent moduli. We clarify the mechanisms underlying the onset of entanglement between distant and noninteracting quantum systems and its optimization for applications to quantum repeaters and entanglement distribution and sharing.

Scaling of bipartite entanglement in one-dimensional lattice systems with a trappingpotential

We study the effects of a power-law trapping potential on the scaling behaviour ofthe entanglement at the quantum critical point of one-dimensional (1D) latticeparticle systems. We compute bipartite von Neumann and Rényi entropies in thepresence of the trap and analyse their scaling behaviour with increasing trap size.As a theoretical laboratory, we consider the quantum XY chain in an externaltransverse field acting as a trap for the spinless fermions of its quadratic Hamiltonianrepresentation. We then investigate confined-particle systems described by the 1DBose–Hubbard model in the superfluid phase (around the centre of the trap).In both cases conformal field theory predicts logarithmically divergent bipartiteentanglement entropies for the homogeneous systems without a trap. The presence of thetrapping potential breaks conformal invariance, affecting the critical behaviour of thehomogeneous system. Our results show that the bipartite entanglement entropies divergelogarithmically with increasing trap size and present notable scaling behaviours in thetrap-size scaling limit.

General relation between entanglement and fluctuations in one dimension

In one dimension very general results from conformal field theory and exact calculations for certain quantum spin systems have established universal scaling properties of the entanglement entropy between two parts of a critical system. Using both analytical and numerical methods, we show that if particle number or spin is conserved, fluctuations in a subsystem obey identical scaling as a function of subsystem size, suggesting that fluctuations are a useful quantity for determining the scaling of entanglement, especially in higher dimensions. We investigate the effects of boundaries and subleading corrections for critical spin and bosonic chains.

Entanglement scaling of fractional quantum Hall states through geometric deformations

We present a new approach for obtaining the scaling behavior of the entanglement entropy in fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states from finite-size wavefunctions. By employing the torus geometry and the fact that the torus aspect ratio can be readily varied, we can extract the entanglement entropy of a spatial block as a continuous function of the block boundary length. This approach allows us to extract the topological entanglement entropy with an accuracy superior to that possible for the spherical or disc geometry, where no natural continuously variable parameter is available. Other than the topological information, the study of entanglement scaling is also useful as an indicator of the difficulty posed by FQH states for various numerical techniques.

Entanglement in pure and thermal cluster states

We present a closest separable state to cluster states, which in turn allows us to calculate the entanglement scaling using relative entropy of entanglement. We reproduce known results for pure cluster states and show how our method can be used in quantifying entanglement in noisy cluster states. Operational meaning is given to our method, which clearly demonstrates how these closest separable states can be constructed from two-qubit clusters in the case of pure states. We also discuss the issue of finding the critical temperature at which the cluster state becomes only classically correlated and the importance of this temperature to our method.

Crumpled states of a wire in a two-dimensional cavity with pins

In this paper, we report an extensive experimental study of the configurations of a plastic wire injected into a two-dimensional planar cavity populated with fixed pins. The wire is not allowed to cross any pin, but it can move in a wormlike manner within the cavity until to become jammed in a crumpled state. The jammed packing fraction depends heavily on the topology of the cavity, which depends on the number of pins. The experiment reveals nontrivial entanglement effects and scaling laws which are largely independent of the details of the distribution of pins, the symmetry of the cavity or the type of the wire. A mean-field model for the process is presented and analogies with some basic aspects of statistical thermodynamics are discussed.

Parity Effects in the Scaling of Block Entanglement in Gapless Spin Chains

We consider the Rényi alpha entropies for Luttinger liquids (LL). For large block lengths l, these are known to grow like lnl. We show that there are subleading terms that oscillate with frequency 2k{F} (the Fermi wave number of the LL) and exhibit a universal power-law decay with l. The new critical exponent is equal to K/(2alpha), where K is the LL parameter. We present numerical results for the anisotropic XXZ model and the full analytic solution for the free fermion (XX) point.

Criticality and entanglement in random quantum systems

We review studies of entanglement entropy in systems with quenched randomness, concentrating on universal behavior at strongly random quantum critical points. The disorder-averaged entanglement entropy provides insight into the quantum criticality of these systems and an understanding of their relationship to non-random (‘pure’) quantum criticality. The entanglement near many such critical points in one dimension shows a logarithmic divergence in subsystem size, similar to that in the pure case but with a different universal coefficient. Such universal coefficients are examples of universal critical amplitudes in a random system. Possible measurements are reviewed along with the one-particle entanglement scaling at certain Anderson localization transitions. We also comment briefly on higher dimensions and challenges for the future.

Scaling of entanglement between separated blocks in spin chains at criticality

We compute the entanglement between separated blocks in certain spin models showing that at criticality this entanglement is a function of the ratio of the separation to the length of the blocks and can be written as a product of a power law and an exponential decay. It thereby interpolates between the entanglement of individual spins and blocks of spins. It captures features of correlation functions at criticality as well as the monogamous nature of entanglement. We exemplify invariant features of this entanglement to microscopic changes within the same universality class. We find this entanglement to be invariant with respect to simultaneous scale transformations of the separation and the length of the blocks. As a corollary, this Rapid Communication estimates the entanglement between separated regions of those quantum fields to which the considered spin models map at criticality.

Phase diagram and entanglement of the Ising model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

We have studied the phase diagram and entanglement of the one-dimensional Ising model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. We have applied the quantum renormalization-group (QRG) approach to get the stable fixed points, critical point, and the scaling of coupling constants. This model has two phases: antiferromagnetic and saturated chiral ones. We have shown that the staggered magnetization is the order parameter of the system and DM interaction produces the chiral order in both phases. We have also implemented the exact diagonalization (Lanczos) method to calculate the static structure factors. The divergence of structure factor at the ordering momentum as the size of systems goes to infinity defines the critical point of the model. Moreover, we have analyzed the relevance of the entanglement in the model which allows us to shed insight on how the critical point is touched as the size of the system becomes large. Nonanalytic behavior of entanglement and finite-size scaling have been analyzed which is tightly connected to the critical properties of the model. It is also suggested that a spin-fluid phase has a chiral order in terms of spin operators which are defined by a nonlocal transformation.

Memory imperfections in atomic-ensemble-based quantum repeaters

Quantum repeaters promise to deliver long-distance entanglement overcoming loss in realistic quantum channels. A promising class of repeaters, based on atomic ensemble quantum memories and linear optics, follows the proposal by L.-M. Duan et al., Nature (London) 414, 413 (2001). Here we analyze this protocol in terms of a very general model for the quantum memories employed. We derive analytical expressions for scaling of entanglement with memory imperfections, dark counts, loss, and distance, and we apply our results to two specific quantum memory protocols. Our methods apply to any quantum memory with an interaction Hamiltonian at most quadratic in the mode operators and are in principle extendible to more recent modifications of the original proposal of Duan, Lukin, Cirac, and Zoller.