We present a review of recent research on quantum entanglement, with special emphasis on entanglement between single atoms, processing of an encoded entanglement and its temporary evolution. Analysis based on the density matrix formalism are described. We give a simple description of the entangling procedure and explore the role of the environment in creation of entanglement and in disentanglement of atomic systems. A particular process we will focus on is spontaneous emission, usually recognized as an irreversible loss of information and entanglement encoded in the internal states of the system. We illustrate some certain circumstances where this irreversible process can in fact induce entanglement between separated systems. We also show how spontaneous emission reveals a competition between the Bell states of a two qubit system that leads to the recently discovered "sudden" features in the temporal evolution of entanglement. An another problem illustrated in details is a deterministic preparation of atoms and atomic ensembles in long-lived stationary squeezed states and entangled cluster states. We then determine how to trigger the evolution of the stable entanglement and also address the issue of a steered evolution of entanglement between desired pairs of qubits that can be achieved simply by varying the parameters of a given system.
With the quantum interference between two transition pathways, we demonstrate a novel scheme to coherently control the momentum entanglement between a single atom and a single photon. The unavoidable disentanglement is also studied from the first principle, which indicates that the stably entangled atom--photon system with superhigh degree of entanglement may be realized with this scheme under certain conditions.
Two recent experiments studying the potential effect of entanglement on the emission properties of excited atoms produced in molecular photodissociation have been interpreted in conflicting ways. We present a theoretical analysis of the problem, showing that the experimental results can be explained by a combination of three processes: entanglement, exchange effects associated with the identical nature of the atoms and disentanglement by spontaneous emission. According to our approach these experiments provide the first verification of the phenomenon of disentanglement by spontaneous emission.
We discuss disentanglement of pure bipartite quantum states within the framework of the schemes developed for entanglement splitting and broadcasting of entanglement.
The dynamics of entanglement between three - level atoms coupled to the common vacuum is investigated. We show that the collective effects such as collective damping, dipole - dipole interaction and the cross coupling between orthogonal dipoles, play a crucial role in the process of creation of entanglement. In particular, the additional cross coupling enhances the production of entanglement. For the specific initial states we find that the effect of delayed sudden birth of entanglement, recently invented by Ficek and Tanas [Phys. Rev. A 77, o54301(2008)] in the case of two - level atoms, can …
Entanglement evolution in high dimensional bipartite systems under dissipation is studied. Discontinuities for the time derivative of the lower bound of entanglement of formation is found depending on the initial conditions for entangled states. This abrupt changes along the evolution appears as precursors of entanglement sudden death.
We define threshold disentanglement (TD) as the level above which entanglement must be maintained for later use and calculate the values of quantum system parameters at $t=0$ that will ensure that the threshold is not crossed in a specified time. An important issue is the possibility of non-smooth, typically non-exponential, decay of entanglement into the state of complete disentanglement (CD). Given a specified operation time $τ$, we determine phase diagrams showing entanglement preservation during the evolution of a generic two-qubit mixed state as a function of selected initial parameters s…
Decoherence is well understood, in contrast to disentanglement. According to common lore, irreversible coupling to a dissipative environment is the mechanism for loss of entanglement. Here, we show that, on the contrary, disentanglement can in fact occur at large enough temperatures $T$ even for vanishingly small dissipation (as we have shown previously for decoherence). However, whereas the effect of $T$ on decoherence increases exponentially with time, the effect of $T$ on disentanglement is constant for all times, reflecting a fundamental difference between the two phenomena. Also, the poss…
The stability of entanglement of two atoms in a cavity is analyzed in this work. By studying the general Werner states we clarify the role of Bell-singlet state in the problem of suppression of disentanglement due to spontaneous emission. It is also shown explicitly that the final amount of entanglement depends on the initial ingredients of the Bell-singlet state.
A quantum communication network can be constructed by distributing a multipartite entangled state to space-separated nodes. Entangled optical beams with highest flying speed and measurable brightness can be used as carriers to convey information in quantum communication networks. Losses and noises existing in real communication channels will reduce or even totally destroy entanglement. The phenomenon of disentanglement will result in the complete failure of quantum communication. Here, we present the experimental demonstrations on the disentanglement and the entanglement revival of tripartite …
Starting from the requirement of distinguishability of two atoms by their positions, it is shown that photon recoil has a strong influence on finite-time disentanglement and in some cases prevents its appearance. At near-field inter atomic distances well localized atoms, with maximally one atom being initially excited, may suffer disentanglement at a single finite time or even at a series of equidistant finite times, depending on their mean inter atomic distance and their initial electronic preparation.
We study the disentanglement dynamics of two giant atoms coupled to a common one-dimensional waveguide. We focus on the non-Markovian retarded effect in the disentanglement of the two giant atoms by taking the photon transmission time into account. By solving the time-delayed equations of motion for the probability amplitudes, we obtain the evolution of the entanglement of the two giant atoms, which are initially in the maximally entangled states in the single-excitation space. It is found that the retardation-induced non-Markovianity leads to non-exponential decay and revivals of entanglement…
The 'disentanglement eraser' or 'entanglement restorer' scheme allows retrieving entanglement by erasing the information about the formation of a classical (or separable) state. It suggests an analogy between the pairs of properties: entangled-separable and wave-particle, the latter as described in the 'quantum eraser'. The scheme illustrates the physical importance of information in quantum systems, and it is also useful as a building block for quantum computation. An optical setup for its simple implementation using three-photon decay in a centro-symmetrical crystal is proposed.
Entanglement in bipartite continuous-variable systems is investigated in the presence of partial losses, such as those introduced by a realistic quantum communication channel, e.g. by propagation in an optical fiber. We find that entanglement can vanish completely for partial losses, in a situa- tion reminiscent of so-called entanglement sudden death. Even states with extreme squeezing may become separable after propagation in lossy channels. Having in mind the potential applications of such entangled light beams to optical communications, we investigate the conditions under which entanglement…
Schroedinger's disentanglement [E. Schroedinger, Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc. 31, 555 (1935)], i. e., remote state decomposition, as a physical way to study entanglement, is carried one step further with respect to previous work in investigating the qualitative side of entanglement in any bipartite state vector. Remote measurement (or, equivalently, remote orthogonal state decomposition) from previous work is generalized to remote linearly-independent complete state decomposition both in the non-selective and the selective versions. The results are displayed in terms of commutative square diagra…
We consider a pair of three-level atoms interacting with the vacuum. The process of disentanglement due to spontaneous emission and the role of quantum interference between principal transitions in this process, are analysed. We show that the presence of interference can slow down disentanglement. In the limit of maximal interference, some part of initial entanglement can survive.
The mean field approximation becomes applicable when entanglement is sufficiently weak. We explore a nonlinear term that can be added to the Schrödinger equation without violating unitarity of the time evolution. We find that the added term suppresses entanglement, without affecting the evolution of any product state. The dynamics generated by the modified Schrödinger equation is explored for the case of a two-spin 1/2 system. We find that for this example the added term strongly affects the dynamics when the Hartmann Hahn matching condition is nearly satisfied.
We investigate the speed of disentanglement in the multiqubit systems under the local depolarizing channel, in which each qubit is independently coupled to the environment. We focus on the bipartition entanglement between one qubit and the remaining qubits constituting the system, which is measured by the negativity. For the two-qubit system, the speed for the pure state completely depends on its entanglement. The upper and lower bounds of the speed for arbitrary two-qubit states, and the necessary conditions for a state achieving them, are obtained. For the three-qubit system, we study the sp…
We study the possibility of preventing finite-time disentanglement caused by dissipation by making use of "non-local quantum error correction. This is made in comparison of previous results, where was shown that "local" quantum error correction can delay disentanglement, but can also cause entanglement sudden death when is not originally present.
We consider a disentanglement process in which local properties of an entangled state are preserved, while the entanglement between the subsystems is erased. Sufficient conditions for a perfect disentanglement (into product states and into separable states) are derived, and connections to the conditions for perfect cloning and for perfect broadcasting are observed.
We study a quantum theory based on two assumptions: In the intrinsic frame of reference of an isolated, macroscopic system, (i) the system has no global motion and is not entangled with any other system, (ii) time evolution of statevectors of systems outside the system satisfy Schrödinger equation. A process of collision-type interaction between a microscopic system and a macroscopic system is studied in an auxiliary frame of reference. In transforming the statevector of the two systems obtained in the auxiliary frame of reference to the intrinsic frame of reference of the macroscopic system, …
Entanglement is essential for quantum computation. However, disentanglement is also necessary. It can be achieved without the need of classical operations (measurements). Two examples are analyzed: the discrete Fourier transform and error correcting codes.
We analyze a controllable generation of maximally entangled mixed states of a circuit containing two-coupled superconducting charge qubits. Each qubit is based on a Cooper pair box connected to a reservoir electrode through a Josephson junction. Illustrative variational calculations were performed to demonstrate the effect on the two-qubits entanglement. At sufficiently deviation between the Josephson energies of the qubits and/or strong coupling regime, maximally entangled mixed states at certain instances of time is synthesized. We show that entanglement has an interesting subsequent time ev…
We study the relation between the sudden death and revival of the entanglement of two qubits in a common squeezed reservoir, and the normal decoherence, by getting closer to the Decoherence Free Subspace and calculating the effect on the death and revival times.
We calculate the two-qubit disentanglement due to classical random telegraph noise using the quasi-Hamiltonian method. This allows us to obtain analytical results even for strong coupling and mixed noise, important when the qubits have tunable working point. We determine when entanglement sudden death and revival occur as functions of qubit working point, noise coupling strength and initial state entanglement. For extended Werner states, we show that the concurrence is related to the difference of two functions: one is related to dephasing and the other longitudinal relaxation. A physical inte…
We investigate the nature of quantum entanglement in long-range orders and spontaneous symmetry breaking. It is shown that diminishing of entanglement between the condensate mode and the rest of the system underlies off-diagonal long-range order, which is the hallmark of superconductivity and Bose-Einstein condensation. It is also revealed that disentanglement underlies various cases of long-range order and spontaneous symmetry breaking. In the course of the discussion, we also present some ideas on characterizing entanglement in many-body systems. Especially, it is shown how the connected cor…
We show that the minimal rate of noise needed to catalytically erase the entanglement in a bipartite quantum state is given by the regularized relative entropy of entanglement. This offers a solution to the central open question raised in [Groisman, PRA 72, 032317 (2005)] and complements their main result that the minimal rate of noise needed to erase all correlations is given by the quantum mutual information. We extend our discussion to the tripartite setting where we show that an asymptotic rate of noise given by the regularized relative entropy of recovery is sufficient to catalytically tr…
We consider whether quantum coherence in the form of mutual entanglement between a pair of qubits is susceptible to decay that may be more rapid than the decay of the coherence of either qubit individually. An instance of potential importance for solid state quantum computing arises if embedded qubits (spins, quantum dots, Cooper pair boxes, etc.) are exposed to global and local noise at the same time. Here we allow separate phase-noisy channels to affect local and non-local measures of system coherence. We find that the time for decay of the qubit entanglement can be significantly shorter tha…
We consider spontaneous emission of two two-level atoms interacting with vacuum fluctuations. We study the process of disentanglement in this system and show the possibility of changing disentanglement time by local operations.
We describe how the entanglement renormalisation approach to topological lattice systems leads to a general procedure for treating the whole spectrum of these models, in which the Hamiltonian is gradually simplified along a parallel simplification of the connectivity of the lattice. We consider the case of Kitaev's quantum double models, both Abelian and non-Abelian, and we obtain a rederivation of the known map of the toric code to two Ising chains; we pay particular attention to the non-Abelian models and discuss their space of states on the torus. Ultimately, the construction is universal f…
We study competition between the dissipative and coherent effects in the entanglement dynamics of two qubits. The coherent interactions are needed for designing logic gate operations with systems like ion traps, semicondutor quantum dots and atoms. We show that the interactions lead to a phenomenon of periodic disentanglement and entanglement between the qubits. The disentanglement is primarily caused by environmental perturbations. The qubits are seen to remain disentangled for a finite time before getting entangled again. We find that the phenomenon is generic and occurs for wide variety of …
We examine the phenomenon of {\it entanglement sudden death} (ESD) for $(2 \times 3)$-dimensional systems. As for $2 \times 2$ systems, the negativity vanishes in finite time for some entangled pure as well as mixed states. While locally equivalent pure states do so asymptotically. Interference between the decay of the two upper levels to the lowest one in the qutrit adds further richness to ESD in this systems.
We study the non-Markovian entanglement dynamics of two qubits in a common squeezed bath. We see remarkable difference between the non-Markovian entanglement dynamics with its Markovian counterpart. We show that a non-Markovian decoherence free state is also decoherence free in the Markovian regime, but all the Markovian decoherence free states are not necessarily decoherence free in the non-Markovian domain. We extend our calculation from squeezed vacuum bath to squeezed thermal bath, where we see the effect of finite bath temperatures on the entanglement dynamics.
Models of quantum disentanglement are developed for nanometer-scale molecular charge qubits (MCQs). Two MCQs, $A$ and $B$, are prepared in a Bell state and separated for negligible $A$-$B$ interactions. Interactions between the local environment and each MCQ unravels $A$-$B$ entanglement during coherent system+environment evolution. Three models are used for dynamics: (1) a previously-developed, numerical model, in which both $AB$ and environment $\mathcal{E}$ are modeled explicitly; (2) an exact, semi-analytic model, in which only the dynamics of $AB$ are calculated, and (3) an approximate mo…
Recently, along with the development of quantum information, quantum entanglemant became a hot topic of people. Quantum entanglemant is one of the most amazing phenomenon in quantum mechanics that is totally different from classical physics. However, system would interact with environment in the practical quantum information process. The entanglement would be broken. In this paper, we study the disentanglement evolution of three spin qubits in an XY spin-chain environment. The dynamical process of the disentanglement is investigated. We found the exact expression of the coherence factor. We di…
We study the dynamics of quantum entanglement between two Unruh-DeWitt detectors, one stationary (Alice), and another uniformly accelerating (Rob), with no direct interaction but coupled to a common quantum field in (3+1)D Minkowski space. We find that for all cases studied the initial entanglement between the detectors disappears in a finite time ("sudden death"). After the moment of total disentanglement the correlations between the two detectors remain nonzero until late times. The relation between the disentanglement time and Rob's proper acceleration is observer dependent. The larger the …
Inspired by our recent works on information paradox in black holes, which exploit various foundational intricacies of quantum mechanics, here we propose a novel connection between the spacetime geometry and quantum entanglement of matter fields "living" in that geometry. We highlight, as a natural consequence of those studies, that gravitational field might have a natural tendency of reducing entanglement between two quantum states.
We study the dynamical process of disentanglement of two qubits and two qutrits coupled to an Ising spin chain in a transverse field, which exhibits a quantum phase transition. We use the concurrence and negativity to quantify entanglement of two qubits and two qutrits, respectively. Explicit connections between the concurrence (negativity) and the decoherence factors are given for two initial states, the pure maximally entangled state and the mixed Werner state. We find that the concurrence and negativity decay exponentially with fourth power of time in the vicinity of critical point of the e…
We outline an exact approach to decoherence and entanglement problems for continuous variable systems. The method is based on a construction of quantum distribution functions introduced by Ford and Lewis \cite{ford86} in which a system in thermal equilibrium is placed in an initial state by a measurement and then sampled by subsequent measurements. With the Langevin equation describing quantum Brownian motion, this method has proved to be a powerful tool for discussing such problems. After reviewing our previous work on decoherence and our recent work on disentanglement, we apply the method to…
We consider Unruh-Wald qubit detector model adopted for the far future region of an exactly solvable 1+1 dimensional scalar field theory in a Robertson-Walker expanding spacetime. It is shown that the expansion of the universe in its history enhances the decoherence of the qubit coupled with a scalar field. Moreover, we consider two entangled qubits, each locally coupled a scalar field. The expansion of the universe in its history degrades the entanglement between the qubits, and can lead to entanglement sudden death if the initial entanglement is small enough. The details depend on the parame…
It is shown that a number of experiments designed to use entangled photon pairs in order to demonstrate the viability of quantum "teleportation" can, in fact, also be understood using disentanglement. Whether entangled or not, using an ensemble approach, the experiments can be explained without any non-local communication between Alice's photon and Bob's photon. Moreover, it is emphasized that entanglement maintains a symmetry property between the two photons that is absent in disentanglment, the symmetry being parity due to phase conerence.
The simple stationary decoherence of a two-state quantum system is discussed from a new viewpoint of environmental entanglement. My work emphasizes that an unconditional local state must totally be disentangled from the rest of the universe. It has been known for long that the loss of coherence within the given local system is gradual. Also the quantum correlations between the local system and the rest of the universe are being destroyed gradually. I show that, differently from local decoherence, the process of environmental disentanglement may terminate in finite time. The time of perfect dis…
We study the effect of pure dephasing on the entanglement of a pair of two-level subsystems (qubits). We show that partial dephasing induced by a super-Ohmic reservoir, corresponding to well-established properties of confined charge states and phonons in semiconductors, may lead to complete disentanglement. We show also that the disentanglement effect increases with growing distance between the two subsystems.
The entanglement dynamics of a pair of donor-based charge qubits is obtained in analytical form. The disentanglement is induced by off resonant scattering of acoustical phonons in the semiconductor host. According to our results a rather unusual recovery of entanglement occurs that depends on the geometrical configuration of the qubits. In addition, for large times a non-vanishing stationary entanglement is predicted. For the cases of one and two initial excitations a simple kinetic interpretation allows for an adequate analysis of the observed dynamics. Our results also reveal a direct relati…
Entropic uncertainty and entanglement are two distinct aspects of quantum mechanical procedures. To estimate entropic uncertainty relations, entropies are used: the greater the entropy bound, the less effective the quantum operations and entanglement are. In this regard, we analyze the entropic uncertainty, entropic uncertainty lower bound, and concurrence dynamics in two non-interacting qubits. The exposure of two qubits is studied in two different qubit-noise configurations, namely, common qubit-noise and independent qubit-noise interactions. To include the noisy effects of the local externa…
Two noninteracting atoms, initially entangled in Bell states, are coupled to a one-mode cavity. Based on the reduced non-perturbative quantum master equation, the entanglement evolution of the two atoms with decay is investigated beyond rotating-wave approximation. It is shown that the counter-rotating wave terms have great influence on the disentanglement behavior. The phenomenon of entanglement sudden death and entanglement sudden birth will occur.
We propose experimental methods to engineer reservoirs at arbitrary temperature which are feasible with current technology. Our results generalize to mixed states the possibility of quantum state engineering through controlled decoherence. Finite temperature engineered reservoirs can lead to the experimental observation of thermal entanglement --the appearance and increase of entanglement with temperature-- to the study of the dependence of finite time disentanglement and revival with temperature, quantum thermodynamical effects, among many other applications, enlarging the comprehension of te…
Pedagogical introduction into the problem of the mathematical description of the quantum correlation (entanglement) of composite quantum systems is represented. The notion is substantiated about the fact that the conventional algorithm of the reduction of von Neumann in the description of the dynamics of the observed subsyatem is not universal and corresponds only to the case of maximum macroscopicity of the unobservable subsystem. Is clearly shown the sense of the algorithm of the correlated reduction proposed, which minimally changes the entropy of composite system.
Disentanglement and loss of quantum correlations due to one global collective noise effect are described for two-qubit Schrödinger cat and Werner states of a four level trapped ion quantum system. Once the Jaynes-Cummings ionic interactions are mapped onto a Dirac spinor structure, the elementary tools for computing quantum correlations of two-qubit ionic states are provided. With two-qubit quantum numbers related to the total angular momentum and to its projection onto the direction of an external magnetic field (which lifts the degeneracy of the ion's internal levels), a complete analytical …
We propose a charged falling particle in an AdS space as a holographic model of local charged quench generalizing model of arXiv:1302.5703. The quench is followed by evolving currents and inhomogeneous distribution of chemical potential. We derive the analytical formula describing the evolution of the entanglement entropy. At some characteristic time after the quench, we find that the entanglement shows a sharp dip. This effect is universal and independent of the dimension of the system. At finite temperature generalization of this model, we find that multiple dips and ramps appear.
The dynamic behavior of the entanglement for two two-level atoms coupled to a common lossy cavity is studied. We find that the speed of disentanglement is a decreasing (increasing) function of the damping rate of the cavity for on/near (far-off) resonant couplings. The quantitative explanations for these phenomena are given, and further, it is shown that they are related to the quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effect induced by the non-Markovian environment.
Analytical expressions for the entanglement measures concurrence, i-concurrence and 3-tangle in terms of spin correlation functions are derived using general symmetries of the quantum spin system. These relations are exploited for the one-dimensional XXZ-model, in particular the concurrence and the critical temperature for disentanglement are calculated for finite systems with up to six qubits. A recent NMR quantum error correction experiment is analyzed within the framework of the proposed theoretical approach.
Recently, it has been realized that nonlocal disentanglement may take a finite time as opposite to the asymptotic decay of local coherences. We find in this paper that a sudden irreversible death of entanglement takes place in a two atom optical Stern-Gerlach model. In particular, the one degree non dissipative environment here considered suddenly destroys the initial entanglement of any Bell's states $\ket{ϕ^{\pm}}$ superposition.
An exact solution of the problem of two-atom one- and two-mode Jaynes-Cummings model with intensity-dependent coupling is presented. Asymptotic solutions for system state vectors are obtained in the approximation of large initial coherent fields. The atom-field entanglement is investigated on the basis of the reduced atomic entropy dynamics. The possibility of the system being initially in a pure disentangled state to revive into this state during the evolution process for both models is shown. Conditions and times of disentanglement are derived.
We use quantum diffusive trajectories to prove that the time evolution of two-qubit entanglement under spontaneous emission can be fully characterized by optimal continuous monitoring. We analytically determine this optimal unraveling and derive a deterministic evolution equation for the system's concurrence. Furthermore, we propose an experiment to monitor the entanglement dynamics in bipartite two-level systems and to determine the disentanglement time from a single trajectory.
