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Physica Scripta

Variational treatment of entanglement in the Dicke model

L. Bakemeier, Andreas Alvermann, Holger Fehske

Published Oct 1, 2015• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We introduce a variational ansatz for the Dicke model that extends mean-field theory through the inclusion of spin–oscillator correlations. The correlated variational state is obtained from the mean-field product state via a unitary transformation. The ansatz becomes correct in the limit of large oscillator frequency and in the limit of a large spin, for which it captures the leading quantum corrections to the classical limit exactly including the spin–oscillator entanglement entropy. We explain the origin of the unitary transformation before we show that the ansatz improves substantially upon mean-field theory, giving near exact results for the ground state energy and very good results for other observables. We then discuss why the ansatz still encounters problems in the transition regime at moderate spin lengths, where it fails to capture the precursors of the superradiant quantum phase transition faithfully. This observation illustrates the principal limits of semi-classical formulations, even after they are extended with correlations and entanglement.

DOI
10.1088/0031-8949/2015/t165/014001

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We introduce a variational ansatz for the Dicke model that extends mean-field theory through the inclusion of spin–oscillator correlations. The correlated variational state is obtained from the mean-field product state via a unitary transformation. The ansatz becomes correct in the limit of large oscillator frequency and in the limit of a large spin, for which it captures the leading quantum corrections to the classical limit exactly including the spin–oscillator entanglement entropy. We explain the origin of the unitary transformation before we show that the ansatz improves substantially upon mean-field theory, giving near exact results for the ground state energy and very good results for other observables. We then discuss why the ansatz still encounters problems in the transition regime at moderate spin lengths, where it fails to capture the precursors of the superradiant quantum phase transition faithfully. This observation illustrates the principal limits of semi-classical formulations, even after they are extended with correlations and entanglement.
We study the quantum phase transition of the Dicke model in the classical oscillator limit, where it occurs already for finite spin length. In contrast to the classical spin limit, for which spin-oscillator entanglement diverges at the transition, entanglement in the classical oscillator limit remains small. We derive the quantum phase transition with identical critical behavior in the two classical limits and explain the differences with respect to quantum fluctuations around the mean-field ground state through an effective model for the oscillator degrees of freedom. With numerical data for the full quantum model we study convergence to the classical limits. We contrast the classical oscillator limit with the dual limit of a high-frequency oscillator, where the spin degrees of freedom are described by the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model. An alternative limit can be defined for the Rabi case of spin length one-half, in which spin frequency renormalization replaces the quantum phase transition.
We investigate a generalized Dicke model by introducing two interacting spin ensembles coupled with a single-mode bosonic field. Apart from the normal to superradiant phase transition induced by the strong spin-boson coupling, interactions between the two spin ensembles enrich the phase diagram by introducing ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases. The mean-field approach reveals a phase diagram comprising three phases: paramagnetic-normal phase, ferromagnetic-superradiant phase, and antiferromagnetic-normal phase. Ferromagnetic spin-spin interaction can significantly reduce the required spin-boson coupling strength to observe the superradiant phase, where the macroscopic excitation of the bosonic field occurs. Conversely, antiferromagnetic spin-spin interaction can strongly suppress the superradiant phase. To examine higher-order quantum effects beyond the mean-field contribution, we utilize the Holstein-Primakoff transformation, which converts the generalized Dicke model into three coupled harmonic oscillators in the thermodynamic limit. Near the critical point, we observe the close of the energy gap between the ground and the first excited states, the divergence of entanglement entropy and quantum fluctuation in certain quadrature. These observations further confirm the quantum phase transition and offer additional insights into critical behaviors.
We investigate the entanglement properties of an ensemble of atoms interacting with a single bosonic field mode via the Dicke (superradiance) Hamiltonian. The model exhibits a quantum phase transition and a well-understood thermodynamic limit, allowing the identification of both quantum and semi-classical many-body features in the behavior of the entanglement. We consider entanglement between the atoms and field, as well both bi- and multi- partite entanglement between atoms. In the thermodynamic limit, we give exact results for all entanglement partitions and observe a logarithmic divergence of the atom-field entanglement, and discontinuities in the pairwise and multipartite entanglement.
We study the dynamical properties of the Dicke model for increasing spin length, as the system approaches the limit of a classical spin. First, we describe the emergence of collective excitations above the ground state that converge to the coupled spin-oscillator oscillations found in the classical limit. The corresponding Green functions reveal quantum dynamical signatures close to the superradiant quantum phase transition. Second, we identify signatures of classical quasiperiodic orbits in the quantum time evolution using numerical time propagation of the wave function. The resulting phase-space plots are compared to the classical trajectories. We complete our study with the analysis of individual eigenstates close to the quasiperiodic orbits.
We present a time-dependent variational approach with the multiple-Davydov-D2{\text{D}}_{2}D2​ trial state to simulate the dynamics of light-matter systems when the field is initially in a coherent state with an arbitrary finite mean photon number. The variational approach captures not only the system dynamics but also the field dynamics and is applicable to a variety of quantum models of light-matter interaction such as the Jaynes-Cummings model, Rabi model, and Dicke model and is capable of tackling multimode quantized fields. With a comparison of the variational and semiclassical dynamics of both the system and field, we illustrate that the variational dynamics from the quantum models agrees with those from the corresponding semiclassical models as long as the mean number of photons is sufficiently large. Moreover, we illustrate that in the crossover between the quantum and semiclassical limits, the quantum corrections lead to the collapse of the oscillations in dynamics, which is absent in the semiclassical models. The variational approach provides a unified treatment of light-matter interaction from the quantum to the semiclassical limit.
We study magnetic materials whose low energy physics can be effectively described by a Dicke model, which we term Dicke materials. We show how a Dicke model emerges in such materials due to a coexistence of fast-dispersing and slow-dispersing spins, which are strongly coupled. Analogous to the paradigmatic Dicke model describing light-matter interactions, these materials also exhibit signatures of a superradiant phase transition. The ground state near the superradiant phase transition is expected to be squeezed, making Dicke materials a resource for quantum metrology and witnessing entanglement in solid-state systems. However, as an entanglement measure, squeezing can be sensitive to perturbations that are otherwise irrelevant for usual correlation functions and order parameters. Motivated by the prospect of observing squeezing in such Dicke materials, we study the robustness of ground state squeezing under ubiquitous imperfections such as finite temperature, disorder, and local interactions. Using analytical and numerical techniques, we show that the squeezing obtained is perturbatively stable against these imperfections and quantitatively evaluate regimes promising for experimental observation.