No Arabic abstract
Starting from a product initial state, equal-time correlations in nonrelativistic quantum lattice models propagate within a lightcone-like causal region. The presence of entanglement in the initial state can modify this behavior, enhancing and accelerating the growth of correlations. In this paper we give a quantitative description, in the form of Lieb-Robinson-type bounds on equal-time correlation functions, of the interplay of dynamics vs. initial entanglement in quantum lattice models out of equilibrium. We test the bounds against model calculations, and also discuss applications to quantum quenches, quantum channels, and Kondo physics.
Whether long-range interactions allow for a form of causality in non-relativistic quantum models remains an open question with far-reaching implications for the propagation of information and thermalization processes. Here, we study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the one-dimensional transverse Ising model with algebraic long-range exchange coupling. Using a state of the art tensor-network approach, complemented by analytic calculations and considering various observables, we show that a weak form of causality emerges, characterized by non-universal dynamical exponents. While the local spin and spin correlation causal edges are sub-ballistic, the causal region has a rich internal structure, which, depending on the observable, displays ballistic or super-ballistic features. In contrast, the causal region of entanglement entropy is featureless and its edge is always ballistic, irrespective of the interaction range. Our results shed light on the propagation of information in long-range interacting lattice models and pave the way to future experiments, which are discussed.
The quasi-particle picture is a powerful tool to understand the entanglement spreading in many-body quantum systems after a quench. As an input, the structure of the excitations pattern of the initial state must be provided, the common choice being pairwise-created excitations. However, several cases exile this simple assumption. In this work, we investigate weakly-interacting to free quenches in one dimension. This results in a far richer excitations pattern where multiplets with a larger number of particles are excited. We generalize the quasi-particle ansatz to such a wide class of initial states, providing a small-coupling expansion of the Renyi entropies. Our results are in perfect agreement with iTEBD numerical simulations.
We consider the variation of von Neumann entropy of subsystem reduced states of general many- body lattice spin systems due to local quantum quenches. We obtain Lieb-Robinson-like bounds that are independent of the subsystem volume. The main assumptions are that the Hamiltonian satisfies a Lieb-Robinson bound and that the volume of spheres on the lattice grows at most exponentially with their radius. More specifically, the bound exponentially increases with time but exponentially decreases with the distance between the subsystem and the region where the quench takes place. The fact that the bound is independent of the subsystem volume leads to stronger constraints (than previously known) on the propagation of information throughout many-body systems. In particular, it shows that bipartite entanglement satisfies an effective light cone, regardless of system size. Further implications to t density-matrix renormalization-group simulations of quantum spin chains and limitations to the propagation of information are discussed.
One of the greatest challenges in quantum information processing is the coherent control over quantum systems with an ever increasing number of particles. Within this endeavor, the harnessing of many-body entanglement against the effects of the environment is a pressing issue. Besides being an important concept from a fundamental standpoint, entanglement is recognized as a crucial resource for performance enhancements over classical methods. Understanding and controlling many-body entanglement in open systems may have implications in quantum computing, quantum simulations, secure quantum communication, quantum metrology, our understanding of the quantum-to-classical transition, and other important questions of quantum foundations. Here we present an overview of recent theoretical and experimental efforts to underpin the dynamics of entanglement in open quantum systems. Entanglement is taken as a dynamic quantity, and we survey how it evolves due to the interaction of the entangled system with its surroundings. We analyze several scenarios, corresponding to different families of states and environments, which render a diversity of dynamical behaviors. Contrary to single-particle quantities, that typically vanish only asymptotically in time, entanglement may disappear at a finite time. Moreover, important classes of entanglement show an exponential decay with the system size when subject to local noise, posing yet another threat to the already challenging scaling of quantum technologies. Results for the local and global noise cases are summarized. Robustness-enhancement techniques, scaling laws, statistical and geometrical aspects of multipartite-entanglement decay are also reviewed; all in order to give a broad picture of entanglement dynamics in open quantum systems addressed to both theorists and experimentalists inside and outside the field of quantum information.
Among the applications of optical phase measurement, the differential interference contrast microscope is widely used for the evaluation of opaque materials or biological tissues. However, the signal to noise ratio for a given light intensity is limited by the standard quantum limit (SQL), which is critical for the measurements where the probe light intensity is limited to avoid damaging the sample. The SQL can only be beaten by using {it N} quantum correlated particles, with an improvement factor of $sqrt{N}$. Here we report the first demonstration of an entanglement-enhanced microscope, which is a confocal-type differential interference contrast microscope where an entangled photon pair ({it N}=2) source is used for illumination. An image of a Q shape carved in relief on the glass surface is obtained with better visibility than with a classical light source. The signal to noise ratio is 1.35$pm$0.12 times better than that limited by the SQL.