Quantum discord and information deficit in spin chains

We examine the behavior of quantum correlations of spin pairs in a finite anisotropic $XY$ spin chain immersed in a transverse magnetic field, through the analysis of the quantum discord and the conventional and quadratic one way-information deficits. We first provide a brief review of these measures, showing that the last ones can be obtained as particular cases of a generalized information deficit based on general entropic forms. All these measures coincide with an entanglement entropy in the case of pure states, but can be non-zero in separable mixed states, vanishing just for classically correlated states. It is then shown that their behavior in the exact ground state of the chain exhibits similar features, deviating significantly from that of the pair entanglement below the critical field. In contrast with entanglement, they reach full range in this region, becoming independent of the pair separation and coupling range in the immediate vicinity of the factorizing field. It is also shown, however, that significant differences between the quantum discord and the information deficits arise in the local minimizing measurement that defines them. Both analytical and numerical results are provided.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Measurements, quantum discord and parity in spin 1 systems

We consider the evaluation of the quantum discord and other related measures of quantum correlations in a system formed by a spin 1 and a complementary spin system. A characterization of general projective measurements in such system in terms of spin averages is thereby introduced, which allows to easily visualize their deviation from standard spin measurements. It is shown that the measurement optimizing these measures corresponds in general to a non-spin measurement. The important case of states that commute with the total $S_z$ spin parity is discussed in detail, and the general stationary measurements for such states (parity preserving measurements) are identified. Numerical and analytical results for the quantum discord, the geometric discord and the one way information deficit in the relevant case of a mixture of two aligned spin 1 states are also presented.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, References adde

Quantum discord in finite XY chains

We examine the quantum discord between two spins in the exact ground state of finite spin 1/2 arrays with anisotropic XY couplings in a transverse field B. It is shown that in the vicinity of the factorizing field B_s, the discord approaches a common finite non-negligible limit which is independent of the pair separation and the coupling range. An analytic expression of this limit is provided. The discord of a mixture of aligned pairs in two different directions, crucial for the previous results, is analyzed in detail, including the evaluation of coherence effects, relevant in small samples and responsible for a parity splitting at B_s. Exact results for finite chains with first neighbor and full range couplings and their interpretation in terms of such mixtures are provided.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Generalized mean field description of entanglement in dimerized spin systems

We discuss a generalized self-consistent mean field (MF) treatment, based on the selection of an arbitrary subset of operators for representing the system density matrix, and its application to the problem of entanglement evaluation in composite quantum systems. As a specific example, we examine in detail a pair MF approach to the ground state (GS) of dimerized spin 1/2 systems with anisotropic ferromagnetic-type XY and XYZ couplings in a transverse field, including chains and arrays with first neighbor and also longer range couplings. The approach is fully analytic and able to capture the main features of the GS of these systems, in contrast with the conventional single spin MF. Its phase diagram differs significantly from that of the latter, exhibiting (Sz) parity breaking just in a finite field window if the coupling between pairs is sufficiently weak, together with a fully dimerized phase below this window and a partially aligned phase above it. It is then shown that through symmetry restoration, the approach is able to correctly predict not only the concurrence of a pair, but also its entanglement with the rest of the chain, which shows a pronounced peak in the parity breaking window. Perturbative corrections allow to reproduce more subtle observables like the entanglement between weakly coupled spins and the low lying energy spectrum. All predictions are tested against exact results for finite systems.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures. Final versio

Factorization and entanglement in general XYZ spin arrays in non-uniform transverse fields

We determine the conditions for the existence of a pair of degenerate parity breaking separable eigenstates in general arrays of arbitrary spins connected through $XYZ$ couplings of arbitrary range and placed in a transverse field, not necessarily uniform. Sufficient conditions under which they are ground states are also provided. It is then shown that in finite chains, the associated definite parity states, which represent the actual ground state in the immediate vicinity of separability, can exhibit entanglement between any two spins regardless of the coupling range or separation, with the reduced state of any two subsystems equivalent to that of pair of qubits in an entangled mixed state. The corresponding concurrences and negativities are exactly determined. The same properties persist in the mixture of both definite parity states. These effects become specially relevant in systems close to the $XXZ$ limit. The possibility of field induced alternating separable solutions with controllable entanglement side limits is also discussed. Illustrative numerical results for the negativity between the first and the $j^{\rm th}$ spin in an open spin $s$ chain for different values of $s$ and $j$ are as well provided.Comment: 6 pages, figures adde