Prof Vlatko Vedral FInstP

Abstract:

We address some of the most commonly raised questions about entanglement, especially with regard to the so-called occupation number entanglement. To answer unambiguously whether entanglement can exist in a one-atom delocalized state, we propose an experiment capable of showing violations of Bell's inequality using only this state and local operations. We review previous discussions for one-photon non-locality and propose a specific experiment for creating one-atom entangled states, showing that the superselection rule of atom number can be overcome. As a by-product, this experiment suggests a means of creating an entangled state of two different chemical species. By comparison with a massless system, we argue that there should be no fundamental objection to such a superposition and its creation may be within reach of present technology. © 2007 The Royal Society.

Abstract:

I exploit the formal equivalence between the ground state of a d-dimensional quantum system and a d + 1-dimensional classical Ising chain to represent quantum entanglement in terms of classical correlations only. This offers a general "local hidden variable model" for all quantum phenomena existing in one dimension lower than the (hidden variable) classical model itself. The local hidden variable model is not contradicted by the implications of Bell's theorem. Formal theory is presented first and then exemplified by the quantum Ising spin chain in a transverse magnetic field. Here I explicitly show how to derive any two site entanglement in the transverse model from the partition function of the classical Ising spin chain existing in two dimensions. Some speculations are then presented regarding possible fundamental implications of these results.

Abstract:

We investigate macroscopic entanglement in an infinite XX spin- 1 2 chain with staggered magnetic field, Bl =B+ e-iπl b. Using single-site entropy and by constructing an entanglement witness, we search for the existence of entanglement when the system is at absolute zero, as well as in thermal equilibrium. Although the role of the alternating magnetic field b is, in general, to suppress entanglement as do B and T, we find that when T=0, introducing b allows the existence of entanglement even when the uniform magnetic field B is arbitrarily large. We find that the region and the amount of entanglement in the spin chain can be enhanced by a staggered magnetic field. © 2007 The American Physical Society.