Non equilibrium dissipation-driven steady many-body entanglement

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that out-of-thermal-equilibrium electromagnetic fields can generate and sustain steady many-body entanglement among qubits, with the degree and nature of entanglement influenced by symmetry and spatial configuration.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism for steady many-body entanglement driven by non-equilibrium dissipation, extending understanding beyond thermal equilibrium conditions.

Findings

Steady entanglement can be achieved in non-equilibrium conditions, unlike thermal equilibrium.

Symmetry enhances entanglement production in permutationally invariant configurations.

Entanglement persists over large distances up to 100 μm in certain bipartitions.

Abstract

We study an ensemble of two-level quantum systems (qubits) interacting with a common electromagnetic field in proximity of a dielectric slab whose temperature is held different from that of some far surrounding walls. We show that the dissipative dynamics of the qubits driven by this stationary and out of thermal equilibrium (OTE) field, allows the production of steady many-body entangled states, differently from the case at thermal equilibrium where steady states are always non-entangled. By studying up to ten qubits, we point out the role of symmetry in the entanglement production, which is exalted in the case of permutationally invariant configurations. In the case of three qubits, we find a strong dependence of tripartite entanglement on the spatial disposition of the qubits, and in the case of six qubits, we find several highly entangled bipartitions where entanglement can, remarkably, survive for large qubit-qubit distances up to 100 $\mu$m.