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arXiv:2409.08378 · Physical Review A

Probing entanglement of a continuous-basis system

P. C. López Vázquez, L. M. Piñuelas, G. Montes

Published Dec 18, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a method to probe entanglement in a theoretically inaccessible quantum system with either a discrete or continuous basis. Our approach leverages insights into the entanglement distribution within a four-partite quantum system, comprising two qubit-oscillator subsystems with dephasing interactions between each qubit-oscillator pair. The method involves measurements applied only to the accessible two-qubit subsystem, enabling a qualitative detection and characterization of quantum correlations in the inaccessible two-oscillator subsystem. This approach provides a novel framework for probing entanglement in continuous-basis systems where traditional measures are often inapplicable due to their complexity. Our findings also reveal an intriguing conservative flow-like behavior in the redistribution of entanglement among subsystems, suggesting that entanglement may exhibit conservative properties in pure composite quantum systems.

DOI
10.1103/rvvb-bqlb

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In this paper, we propose a method to probe entanglement in a theoretically inaccessible quantum system with either a discrete or continuous basis. Our approach leverages insights into the entanglement distribution within a four-partite quantum system, comprising two qubit-oscillator subsystems with dephasing interactions between each qubit-oscillator pair. The method involves measurements applied only to the accessible two-qubit subsystem, enabling a qualitative detection and characterization of quantum correlations in the inaccessible two-oscillator subsystem. This approach provides a novel framework for probing entanglement in continuous-basis systems where traditional measures are often inapplicable due to their complexity. Our findings also reveal an intriguing conservative flow-like behavior in the redistribution of entanglement among subsystems, suggesting that entanglement may exhibit conservative properties in pure composite quantum systems.
Decoherence is an unavoidable effect of the quantum system coupled to an environment, which leads to the system evolving from a pure state to a mixed one. A critical issue here is that the reduction of purity is quantum or classical, which corresponds to whether or not entanglement is generated between the system and environment. We report a proof-of-principle experimental investigation of such entanglement in a simple but paradigmatic case, in which a qubit system interacts with a pure dephasing channel. The pure dephasing process is realized in a linear photonic system, and the experiment is a validation in a very controlled setting. By adopting previous methods to detect qubit-environment entanglement, we prove that such entanglement can be detected by performing local measurements on only one subsystem, even when the other subsystem in the pair cannot be detected. Our experiment paves the way for investigating features of open quantum system dynamics.
We show that the methods for quantification of system-environment entanglement that were recently developed for interactions that lead to pure decoherence of the system can be straightforwardly generalized to time-dependent Hamiltonians of the same type. This includes the if-and-only-if criteria of separability, as well as the entanglement measure applicable to qubit systems, and methods of detection of entanglement by operations and measurements performed solely on the system without accessing the environment. We use these methods to study the nature of the decoherence of a qubit-oscillator system. Qubit-oscillator entanglement is essential for developing bosonic quantum technology with quantum non-Gaussian states and its applications in quantum sensing and computing. The dominating bosonic platforms---trapped ions, electromechanics, and superconducting circuits---are based on the time-dependent gates that use such entanglement to achieve new quantum sensors and quantum error correction. The steplike time dependence of the Hamiltonian that is taken into account allows us to capture the complex interplay between the buildups of classical and quantum correlations, which could not be replicated in time-independent scenarios.
Given a multipartite quantum system that consists of two-level particles (qubits), one may or may not have access to all the subsystems. What can we know about the entanglement of the multiqubit system and residual correlations beyond two-tangle if we have access only to two-qubits at a time? Algebraic analysis of two-qubit states yields monogamy constraints on distribution of entanglement between sub-systems of an N-qubit state and criterion to determine if the state has multipartite entanglement. Monogamy constraints, reported in this letter, are relations between well known entanglement measures such as one-tangle, two-tangles and three-tangles of an N-qubit pure state.
Discrete-time quantum walks provide a versatile framework for investigating the generation, redistribution, and transport of quantum correlations in composite quantum systems. Here, we study the dynamics of bipartite and genuine multipartite entanglement in a two-walker discrete-time quantum walk on a one-dimensional lattice. By employing logarithmic negativity and the generalized geometric measure (GGM), we systematically characterize the redistribution of bipartite entanglement among different subsystem partitions and the emergence of genuine multipartite entanglement involving the two coin and two position degrees of freedom. We show that the entanglement dynamics are strongly influenced by the lattice topology. The open-boundary regime exhibits a monotonic redistribution of quantum correlations, whereas the closed-boundary regime gives rise to pronounced oscillatory behavior due to boundary-induced interference and recurrent wave-packet overlap. In the open-boundary regime, the GGM rapidly approaches its theoretical maximum value of 1/21/21/2 and remains largely insensitive to the choice of the initial Bell state as well as to continuous variations of the local coin operator over a broad parameter range, except near the Pauli-XXX coin. These results demonstrate that maximal genuine multipartite entanglement generation is a robust and generic feature of open-boundary two-walker discrete-time quantum walks, establishing them as promising platforms for engineering multipartite quantum correlations in quantum information processing and quantum simulation.
Some physical objects are hardly accessible to direct experimentation. It is then desirable to infer their properties based solely on the interactions they have with systems over which we have control. In this spirit, here we introduce schemes for assessing the nonclassicality of the inaccessible objects as characterized by quantum discord. We consider two probes individually interacting with the inaccessible object but not with each other. The schemes are based on monitoring entanglement dynamics between the probes. Our method is robust and experimentally friendly, as it allows the probes and the object to be open systems and makes no assumptions about the initial state, dimensionality of involved Hilbert spaces, and details of the probe-object Hamiltonian. We apply our scheme to a membrane-in-the-middle optomechanical system, to detect system-environment correlations in open system dynamics as well as nonclassicality of the environment, and we foresee potential benefits for the inference of the nonclassical nature of gravity.