# Anomalous Enhancement of Entanglement Entropy in Nonequilibrium Steady States Driven by Zero-Temperature Reservoirs

## TL;DR

This paper studies how entanglement entropy in a one-dimensional quantum wire with impurities grows unexpectedly fast in nonequilibrium steady states driven by zero-temperature reservoirs, revealing a quasi volume law.

## Contribution

It uncovers an anomalous growth of entanglement entropy in nonequilibrium conditions, deviating from the typical logarithmic law at equilibrium.

## Key findings

- Entanglement entropy exhibits a quasi volume law in NESS.
- Anomalous EE growth is caused by far from equilibrium conditions and impurity scatterings.
- EE growth is faster than at equilibrium, indicating enhanced quantum correlations.

## Abstract

We investigate the size scaling of the entanglement entropy (EE) in nonequilibrium steady states (NESSs) of a one-dimensional open quantum system with a random potential. It models a mesoscopic conductor, composed of a long quantum wire (QWR) with impurities and two electron reservoirs at zero temperature. The EE at equilibrium obeys the logarithmic law. However, in NESSs far from equilibrium the EE grows anomalously fast, obeying the `quasi volume law,' although the conductor is driven by the zero-temperature reservoirs. This anomalous behavior arises from both the far from equilibrium condition and multiple scatterings due to impurities.