English

On the entanglement of a quantum field with a dispersive medium

Quantum Physics 2012-08-16 v2 Statistical Mechanics High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

In this Letter we study the entanglement of a quantum radiation field interacting with a dielectric medium. In particular, we describe the quantum mixed state of a field interacting with a dielectric through plasma and Drude models and show that these generate very different entanglement behavior, as manifested in the entanglement entropy of the field. We also present a formula for a "Casimir" entanglement entropy, i.e., the distance dependence of the field entropy. Finally, we study a toy model of the interaction between two plates. In this model, the field entanglement entropy is divergent; however, as in the Casimir effect, its distance-dependent part is finite, and the field matter entanglement is reduced when the objects are far.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1109.2610,
  title  = {On the entanglement of a quantum field with a dispersive medium},
  author = {Israel Klich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1109.2610},
  year   = {2012}
}

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Final published PRL version