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Marcin Wieśniak
Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Wien, Austria;
Instytut Fizyki Teoretycznej i Astrofizyki, Uniwersytet Gdański, PL-80-952 Gdańsk, Poland;
Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematical Physics, Boltzmanngasse 9, A-1090 Wien, Austria;
Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542, Singapore;
and Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543, Singapore
Vlatko Vedral
The School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom;
Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542, Singapore;
and Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543, Singapore
Časlav Brukner
Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Wien, Austria
and Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Boltzmanngasse 3,
A-1090 Wien, Austria
共Received 29 May 2008; revised manuscript received 21 July 2008; published 12 August 2008兲
We demonstrate that the presence of entanglement in macroscopic bodies 共e.g., solids兲 in thermodynamical
equilibrium could be revealed by measuring heat capacity. The idea is that if the system was in a separable
state, then for certain Hamiltonians heat capacity would not tend asymptotically to zero as the temperature
approaches absolute zero. Since this would contradict the third law of thermodynamics, one concludes that the
system must contain entanglement. The separable bounds are obtained by minimalization of the heat capacity
over separable states and using its universal low-temperature behavior. Our results open up a possibility to use
standard experimental techniques of solid-state physics—namely, heat-capacity measurements—to detect en-
tanglement in macroscopic samples.
specific heat to tend asymptotically to zero as the tempera- In the following we will prove that no product state be-
ture approaches the absolute zero. We will show, however, longs to the eigenbasis of HIsing. Therefore, the variance of
that, for certain Hamiltonians and under the assumption that HIsing and consequently heat capacity, cannot vanish within
the system is in a separable state, one obtains a nonvanishing the set of these states. Since taking a convex sum over prod-
value for heat capacity 共separable bound兲 as the temperature uct states can only increase the variance, we will conclude
approaches the absolute zero. Since this contradicts the third that heat capacity cannot vanish for the set of all separable
law of thermodynamics one concludes that the system must states.
be in an entangled state. The separable bound for heat capac-
ity is obtained in two different ways: by direct minimization B. Proof of nonseparability of the eigenstates
of the value of heat capacity over separable states 共the ex-
plicit example considered is the Ising model in a transverse The proof that all eigenstates of the Hamiltonian HIsing are
magnetic field兲 and by referring to the universal behavior of entangled is by reductio ad absurdum. We first assume the
heat capacity close to absolute zero. Using these methods we opposite, i.e., that at least one of the eigenstates is a product
obtain the range of physical parameters 共critical temperature state, and then arrive at a contradiction. Suppose that the
and strength of the magnetic field兲 for which entanglement is product state 兩典 = 丢 i=1
N
共ai兩0i典 + bi兩1i典兲 is an eigenstate that is
present in various classes of systems. associated to the eigenvalue E and ai ⫽ 0 and bi ⫽ 0 for all i
One might question the relevance of our method for en- 共if this were not the case, i.e., ai = 0 or bi = 0 for some i, 兩典
tanglement detection since the method requires knowledge of would not be an eigenstate because the magnetic-field term
the Hamiltonian of the system, and thus one could directly in HIsing flips the state 兩0典 to 兩1典 and vice versa for every
determine its eigenstates, build thermal states therefrom, and qubit兲. Under the assumption that 兩典 was an eigenstate with
check their separability. As we know, computation of eigen- an eigenvalue E, the following would need to hold:
states is in general a hard problem and the origin of some
具00 . . . 0兩HIsing兩典 具10 . . . 0兩HIsing兩典
major difficulties in solid-state physics. Furthermore, even if E= = . 共3兲
the thermal 共mixed兲 state is known, it is in general hard to 具00 . . . 0兩典 具10 . . . 0兩典
find out whether it is separable or not. Our method requires The proof is as follows: The two denominators are equal to
only knowledge of eigenvalues 共partition function兲 and can b
easily be experimentally implemented. 兿i=1
N
ai and a11 兿i=1
N
ai. Under the action of HIsing onto 兩典 in the
Consider a system described by a Hamiltonian H to be in expression on the left, only the terms for which either all
a thermodynamical equilibrium at a given temperature T. Its spins are in the state 兩0典 or for which one spin is in the 兩1典
thermal state is given by T = exp共− kT H
兲 / Z, where k is the state and the rest in 兩0典 remain. The numerator on the left is
N bi
Boltzmann constant and Z = Tr关exp共− kT H
兲兴 is the partition hence equal to 兿i=1 N
ai共N + B兺i=1 ai 兲. Under the action of HIsing
function. The knowledge of the partition function allows us onto 兩典 in the expression on the right only the following
to derive all thermodynamical quantities. For example, terms give a contribution: 兩10. . . 0典 共equal to N − 4兲, 兩0 . . . 0典,
the internal energy is given by U = − ln Z /  and the states in which the first and one other spin are anti-
= Tr关H exp共− kTH
兲兴 / Z = Tr关TH兴, where  = 1 / kT. Similarly, aligned to the rest. The second numerator results in
b b N bi b1
the heat capacity C = U / T = 1 / 共kT2兲2 ln Z / 2 is propor- 兿i=1
N
ai兵 a11 共N − 4兲 + B关1 + a11 共兺i=1 ai − a1 兲兴其. After simplifying
tional to the variance of the Hamiltonian both sides of Eq. 共3兲, it reduces to a quadratic equation
C=
⌬2共H兲
kT2
1
= 2 共具H2典 − 具H典2兲.
kT
共1兲 −B 冉冊
b1
a1
2
−4
b1
a1
+ B = 0. 共4兲
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HEAT CAPACITY AS AN INDICATOR OF ENTANGLEMENT PHYSICAL REVIEW B 78, 064108 共2008兲
i 0.8
= 兺 wi 具A 典i −
i 冉 2
具A典2i
=⌬2共A兲i
+ 共具A典i − 具A典兲
ⱖ0
2
冊 2
D (HIsing )
N
0.6
0.4
ⱖ 兺 wi⌬ 共A兲i , 2
0.2
i
0
with 具A典i = 具i兩A兩i典. This implies that the bound that is ob- 0 1 2 3 4
B
tained for pure product states will also be the bound for all
separable 共in general, mixed兲 states. FIG. 1. The minimal variance per site ⌬2共HIsing兲 / N of the
It can be shown that if the state is a product state, then one Hamiltonian of a transverse Ising ring versus the magnetic field B
has 共J = k = 1兲. The minimization of the variance is performed over two-
2
冉
⌬ 共HIsing兲 = N − 兺
i=1
N
具zi 典2具i+1
z
典2
N
+ 2 兺 具zi 典具i+2
i=1
z
典
translation invariant product states 共兩1典兩2典兲 丢 N/2.
i=1
the Hamiltonian has the proposed form for any B ⫽ 0. In the
limit of a very strong field, all spins tend to orient themselves
toward the field and build a product state, however, the in-
冉 冊
N teraction term contributes the variance with a constant mag-
典兲 + B2 N − 兺 具xi 典 .
nitude. This explains why the curve in Fig. 1 does not tend to
+ 具i+1
x
共5兲
i=1 zero as B increases to infinity, but saturates at B ⬇ 3.5.
The results of the optimization are compared to the values
Due to the translational symmetry of the system we expect for specific heat of an infinite Ising ring.17 Katsura17 obtained
that the product state, which minimizes this expression, is analytical forms of thermodynamical quantities by an exact
共quasi兲translation invariant. We first consider product states solution of the Hamiltonian eigenproblem. The solution was
with a period of two sites. In such a state every odd spin is in achieved with the Jordan-Wigner transformation followed by
the same state 兩1典 and, similarly, every even spin is in the the Fourier and the Bogoliubov transformations. The heat
state 兩2典. Therefore, the state of N spins 共N is here taken capacity per spin was found to be
even兲 is 兩典 = 共兩1典兩2典兲 丢 N/2 and herein called two-translation
invariant. The assumed two-translation invariance of the
state allows neighboring spins to have antiparallel z
components—to minimize the interaction energy—and at the
CIsing
N
=
1
T2
冕
0
f共B, 兲
cosh2
f 共B,w兲 d ,
T
共7兲
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WIEŚNIAK, VEDRAL, AND BRUKNER PHYSICAL REVIEW B 78, 064108 共2008兲
B. Gapless systems
We demonstrate how the separable bound on the internal
energy can be used to derive the separable bound on the heat
capacity. First, let us consider a class of materials in which
the lowest part of the energetic spectrum is continuous. Infi-
nite half-odd integer spin chains and ring are examples of
FIG. 3. The specific heat per spin 共in units 兩J兩 = k = 1兲 of a trans-
such systems. For sufficiently low temperatures, their inter-
verse antiferromagnetic Ising chain versus the temperature T for
B = 2. The gray line, 0.4197/ T2, is our entanglement witness.
nal energy 共hereafter, “per spin”兲 can be expanded to a poly-
nome U共T兲 = E0 + 共kT兲␥共c0 + c1kT + . . .兲, with E0 being the
ground-state energy and ␥ , c0 , c1 , . . . are material-dependent
tion is that with increasing the strength of the magnetic field, constants. At sufficiently low temperatures, when the higher
the critical temperature below which entanglement is de- order terms are negligible, the specific heat is proportional to
tected increases as well. a power of T as given by:
Figure 3 presents the heat capacity per spin for a given
magnetic field B = 2. The gray line represents a / T2, where U共T兲 U − E0
a = 0.4197 is the minimal Hamiltonian variance over sepa- C共T兲 = = ␥c0k␥T␥−1 = ␥ . 共9兲
T T
rable states for this value of the field. For the temperatures
below the value of intersection of the two lines the state is Now we use the fact that if the internal energy is bounded
entangled. for all separable states, i.e., has a separable bound EB, then
the specific heat is bounded for all separable states as well.
Namely, one has
III. UNIVERSAL LOW-TEMPERATURE BEHAVIOR AND
ENTANGLEMENT EB − E0
C共T兲 ⱖ ␥ . 共10兲
T
In the following we will show that the specific heat is an
entanglement witness whenever the internal energy is. The This allows us to use the heat capacity as entanglement wit-
argument is based on two results of statistical mechanics, ness. Given a Hamiltonian one determines the ground-state
universality and scalability, which together state that the par- energy E0 and the minimal energy over all separable states
tition functions of various systems are similar and character- EB. If the ground state is separable, i.e., E0 = EB, the inequal-
ized by a small number of universal parameters such as the ity 共10兲 is in agreement with the third law of thermodynam-
central charge or the dimensionality of a lattice. ics, as one can have C → 0 with T → 0. In the case E0 ⫽ EB,
EB−E0
one compares ␥ T with the real temperature dependence
A. Internal energy as entanglement witness of the heat capacity C共T兲, obtained either from an experi-
EB−E0
ment or from a theory. Since ␥ T diverges as the tempera-
For the sake of the further discussion, we recall that for
ture approaches the absolute zero and C共T兲 has to tend to
certain Hamiltonians internal energy is an entanglement wit-
zero to be in an agreement with the third law of thermody-
ness. This is nicely illustrated in the case of the Heisenberg
namics, the two curves intersect each other. The intersection
antiferromagnetic ring Hamiltonian,4,5 given by Hxxx
point then defines the critical temperature below which en-
sជ · sជ 共with sជi denoting the ith spin vector of the mag-
N i i+1
= J兺i=1
tanglement exists in the system. The method does not require
nitude s in a ring, periodicity guaranteed by i ⬅ i + N, and J
the knowledge of the energy eigenstates, but only of the
⬎ 0兲. Under optimization over product states 兩典 = 丢 i=1 N
兩i典, ground-state energy and a separable bound for the internal
2
the lowest possible energy is EB = −JNs , since for product energy.
states one has: We note that another thermodynamical entanglement wit-
N ness has similar features to heat capacity. Namely, the mag-
E = 具兩Hxxx兩典 = J 兺 具sជi典具sជi+1典 netic susceptibility also might diverge in the limit of infi-
i=1 nitely low temperatures for all separable states.9 In both
N cases quantum entanglement is decisive for finiteness of the
ⱖ − J 兺 冑具sជi典2冑具sជi+1典2 ⱖ − JNs2 ⬅ EB . low-temperature values of the thermodynamical quantities.
i=1 Consider gapless models in 1 + 1 dimensions. For these
共8兲 systems, the conformal field theory19–21 predicts C
= 共ck2T兲 / 共3បv兲 for the low-temperature behavior of the
Here, 具sជi典 = 具i兩sជi兩i典. specific heat 共throughout this paragraph, we assume J = k
By convexity, the same bound holds for all separable = ប = 1兲. Here c stands for the central charge of the corre-
states. On the other hand, in the limit of large N, the ground- sponding Virasoro algebra and v is the spin velocity. For
064108-4
HEAT CAPACITY AS AN INDICATOR OF ENTANGLEMENT PHYSICAL REVIEW B 78, 064108 共2008兲
half-integer spins c = 6s / 共2 + 2s兲. An example is the infinite using the energy bound EB for separable states we obtain the
xxx antiferromagnetic spin- 21 Heisenberg chain. From in- corresponding bound for the specific heat
equality 共10兲 one obtains that the values of the specific heat
below C ⬍ 0.386/ T manifest entanglement in the Heisenberg ⌬共EB − E0兲
Cⱖ 共14兲
chain. The approximation C ⬇ 共2 / 3兲T is valid for tempera- kT2
tures below 0.1.22 for all separable states. Again, one can invoke the third law
Another example is the xx spin- 21 antiferromagnets whose of thermodynamics to argue for the necessity of existence of
solution is also given in Ref. 17. The internal energy per spin entanglement at sufficiently low temperatures whenever EB
of an infinite xx ferromagnet described by the Hamiltonian ⫽ E0. An exemplary gapped system is an infinite xxx spin-1
Hxx = J兺i共ixi+1
x + y y 兲 is given by Heisenberg chain with the values c⬘ = ⌬5/2 / 冑2, ␦ = −3 / 2,
i i+1
Uxx = −
4J
冕 0
/2
tanh 冉 2J
kT
冊
sin sin d . 共11兲
⌬ = 0.411J, and E0 = −1.401J.25,26 By Eq. 共8兲, EB = −J. Thus,
within the approximation range, all low-temperature values
of the specific heat below 0.165J / 共kT2兲 cannot be explained
without entanglement.
We will use the following approximation: at sufficiently low
temperatures T Ⰶ k / J, the argument tanh关共2Jx兲 / 共kT兲兴 of the IV. CONCLUSIONS
integral is a very steep function, which is well approximated
2J
by f共x兲 = 共 kT 兲 x for 0 ⱕ x ⱕ kJT and f共x兲 = 1 for x ⬎ kJT .
J 2 2
兲x − 共 kT In summary, we have shown that the low-temperature be-
Thus the internal energy can be written as havior of the specific heat can reveal the presence of en-
tanglement in bulk bodies in the thermodynamical equilib-
Uxx ⬇ −
4J
冕
0
kT/J
f共兲d −
4J
冕
kT/J
/2
sin d
rium. For certain Hamiltonians and under the assumption of
having separable states only, the specific heat would diverge
at temperature approaching the absolute zero. This might be
⬇−
5k2T2 4J
3J
−
1−
k 2T 2
2J 2 冉
=−
4J k2T2
+
3J
, 冊 共12兲
because none of the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian are a
product state and hence its variance cannot vanish within the
set of these states or, more generally, because at least the
where we have used expansions sin x ⬇ x and cos x ⬇ 1 ground state is entangled. In the latter case we involve the
− x2 / 2. From Eq. 共12兲 it is clear that the ground-state energy separability bound and the universal low-temperature behav-
per spin is −4J / , while the energy bound for separable ior of internal energy to argue for nonclassicality of a ther-
states is −J. Hence, by Eq. 共10兲 the thermal state is entangled mal mixture in certain systems. One may therefore say that
if it satisfies C ⬍ 2J共4 / − 1兲 / T as long as the specific heat in these systems the validity of the third law of thermody-
can be approximated by a linear function of T. namics relies on quantum entanglement.
Thermal entanglement of bulk solids might play an im-
C. Gapped systems portant role in the emerging quantum information technol-
ogy, where nonclassical correlations were recognized as one
The integer spin chains have an energy gap ⌬ between the of its main resources.27 Our method enables to detect en-
ground state and the first-excited state, even in the thermo- tanglement using one of the standard techniques in solid-
dynamical limit. The gap is also a feature of systems de- state physics—measurements of the heat capacity.
scribed by a Hilbert space of finite dimensions. For all
gapped systems, the low-temperature behavior of the specific ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
heat is given by
We thank J. Kofler for valuable remarks. Č.B. acknowl-
C = c ⬘T e ␦ −⌬/kT
, 共13兲 edges support of the Austrian Science Foundation 共FWF兲,
Programe “Complex Quantum Systems 共QoCuS兲, and the
where c⬘ and ␦ are some material-dependent constants.23 The European Commission 共QAP兲. M.W. is supported by the Er-
internal energy can then be written as U共T兲 = U0 win Schrödinger Institute in Vienna and the Foundation for
+ 兰T0 C共T⬘兲dT⬘ = U0 + c⬘共⌬ / k兲␦+1⌫关−␦ − 1 , ⌬ / 共kT兲兴. Since for Polish Science 共FNP兲 共including START兲. This work is par-
large x we have ⌫共a , x兲 ⬇ e−xxa−1,24 we obtain U共T兲 ⬇ E0 tially supported by the National Research Foundation and
+ c⬘kT␦+2e−⌬/共kT兲 / ⌬ at sufficiently low temperatures. Finally, Ministry of Education, Singapore.
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064108-5
WIEŚNIAK, VEDRAL, AND BRUKNER PHYSICAL REVIEW B 78, 064108 共2008兲
tems兲 entropy S共T兲 = S共0兲 + 兰T0 T⬘ dT⬘ must be also finite, which
C
Quantum Information 共Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
puts a restriction that limT→0C = 0. The converse implication is England, 2000兲.
064108-6