Quantum Signatures of Topological Phase in Bosonic Quadratic System

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that topological phases in open bosonic quadratic systems can be identified by edge state entanglement, linking quantum entanglement with classical topological properties through exact numerical and analytical methods.

Contribution

It reveals that stationary entanglement serves as a quantum signature of topological phases in bosonic systems, supported by exact and approximate analytical results.

Findings

Edge modes are entangled in the topological phase but not in the trivial phase.

Exact numerical results are obtained via covariance approach without truncation.

Topological edge states have near-zero eigenenergies in the band gap, enhancing squeezing correlations.

Abstract

Quantum entanglement and classical topology are two distinct phenomena that are difficult to be connected together. Here we discover that an open bosonic quadratic chain exhibits topology-induced entanglement effect. When the system is in the topological phase, the edge modes can be entangled in the steady state, while no entanglement appears in the trivial phase. This finding is verified through the covariance approach based on the quantum master equations, which provide exact numerical results without truncation process. We also obtain concise approximate analytical results through the quantum Langevin equations, which perfectly agree with the exact numerical results. We show the topological edge states exhibit near-zero eigenenergies located in the band gap and are separated from the bulk eigenenergies, which match the system-environment coupling (denoted by the dissipation rate) and thus the squeezing correlations can be enhanced. Our work reveals that the stationary entanglement can be a quantum signature of the topological phase in bosonic systems, and inversely the topological quadratic systems can be powerful platforms to generate robust entanglement.