Viktor Eisler

Reduced density matrices and entanglement entropy in free lattice models

We review the properties of reduced density matrices for free fermionic or bosonic many-particle systems in their ground state. Their basic feature is that they have a thermal form and thus lead to a quasi-thermodynamic problem with a certain free-particle Hamiltonian. We discuss the derivation of this result, the character of the Hamiltonian and its eigenstates, the single-particle spectra and the full spectra, the resulting entanglement and in particular the entanglement entropy. This is done for various one- and two-dimensional situations, including also the evolution after global or local quenches.

Evolution of entanglement after a local quench

We study free electrons on an infinite half-filled chain, starting in the ground state with a bond defect. We find a logarithmic increase of the entanglement entropy after the defect is removed, followed by a slow relaxation towards the value of the homogeneous chain. The coefficients depend continuously on the defect strength.

Entanglement negativity in the harmonic chain out of equilibrium

We study the entanglement in a chain of harmonic oscillators driven out of equilibrium by preparing the two sides of the system at different temperatures, and subsequently joining them together. The steady state is constructed explicitly and the logarithmic negativity is calculated between two adjacent segments of the chain. We find that, for low temperatures, the steady-state entanglement is a sum of contributions pertaining to left- and right-moving excitations emitted from the two reservoirs. In turn, the steady-state entanglement is a simple average of the Gibbs-state values and thus its scaling can be obtained from conformal field theory. A similar averaging behaviour is observed during the entire time evolution. As a particular case, we also discuss a local quench where both sides of the chain are initialized in their respective ground states.

Entanglement evolution after connecting finite to infinite quantum chains

We study zero-temperature XX chains and transverse Ising chains and join an initially separate finite piece on one or on both sides to an infinite remainder. In both critical and non-critical systems we find a typical increase of the entanglement entropy after the quench, followed by a slow decay towards the value of the homogeneous chain. In the critical case, the predictions of conformal field theory are verified for the first phase of the evolution, while at late times a step structure can be observed.

Full Counting Statistics in a Propagating Quantum Front and Random Matrix Spectra

One-dimensional free fermions are studied with emphasis on propagating fronts emerging from a step initial condition. The probability distribution of the number of particles at the edge of the front is determined exactly. It is found that the full counting statistics coincide with the eigenvalue statistics of the edge spectrum of matrices from the Gaussian unitary ensemble. The correspondence established between the random matrix eigenvalues and the particle positions yields the order statistics of the rightmost particles in the front and, furthermore, it implies their subdiffusive spreading.

On the partial transpose of fermionic Gaussian states

We consider Gaussian states of fermionic systems and study the action of the partial transposition on the density matrix. It is shown that, with a suitable choice of basis, these states are transformed into a linear combination of two Gaussian operators that are uniquely defined in terms of the covariance matrix of the original state. In case of a reflection symmetric geometry, this result can be used to efficiently calculate a lower bound for a well-known entanglement measure, the logarithmic negativity. Furthermore, exact expressions can be derived for traces involving integer powers of the partial transpose. The method can also be applied to the quantum Ising chain and the results show perfect agreement with the predictions of conformal field theory.

Entanglement in a periodic quench

We consider a chain of free electrons with periodically switched dimerization and study the entanglement entropy of a segment with the remainder of the system. We show that it evolves in a stepwise manner towards a value proportional to the length of the segment and displays in general slow oscillations. For particular quench periods and full dimerization an explicit solution is given. Relations to equilibrium lattice models are pointed out.

Crossover between ballistic and diffusive transport: the quantum exclusion process

We study the evolution of a system of free fermions in one dimension under the simultaneous effects of coherent tunneling and stochastic Markovian noise. We identify a class of noise terms where a hierarchy of decoupled equations for the correlation functions emerges. In the special case of incoherent, nearest-neighbor hopping the equation for the two-point functions is solved explicitly. The Greens function for the particle density is obtained analytically and a time scale is identified where a crossover from ballistic to diffusive behavior takes place. The result can be interpreted as a competition between the two types of conduction channels where diffusion dominates on large timescales.

Entanglement in spin chains with gradients

We study solvable spin chains where either fields or couplings vary linearly in space and create a sandwich-like structure of the ground state. We find that the entropy of entanglement between two halves of a chain varies logarithmically with the interface width. After quenching to a homogeneous critical system, the entropy grows logarithmically in time in the XX model, but quadratically in the transverse Ising chain. We explain this behaviour and indicate generalizations to other power laws.

Entanglement in the XX spin chain with an energy current

We consider the ground state of an XX chain that is constrained to carry a current of energy. The von Neumann entropy of a block of L neighboring spins, describing entanglement of the block with the rest of the chain, is computed. Recent calculations have revealed that the entropy in the XX model diverges logarithmically with the size of the subsystem. We show that the presence of the energy current increases the prefactor of the logarithmic growth. This result indicates that the emergence of the energy current gives rise to an increase of entanglement.