Entanglement entropy in collective models

TL;DR

This paper investigates how entanglement entropy behaves in various collective quantum systems, especially near phase transitions, revealing divergence patterns linked to gapless excitations and system size.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of entanglement entropy in collective models, including quadratic boson models and several specific spin systems, highlighting divergence at quantum critical points.

Findings

Entanglement entropy diverges at quantum phase transitions.

Gapless excitations lead to unbounded entanglement entropy growth.

Derived scaling laws for entanglement entropy in different models.

Abstract

We discuss the behavior of the entanglement entropy of the ground state in various collective systems. Results for general quadratic two-mode boson models are given, yielding the relation between quantum phase transitions of the system (signaled by a divergence of the entanglement entropy) and the excitation energies. Such systems naturally arise when expanding collective spin Hamiltonians at leading order via the Holstein-Primakoff mapping. In a second step, we analyze several such models (the Dicke model, the two-level BCS model, the Lieb-Mattis model and the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model) and investigate the properties of the entanglement entropy in the whole parameter range. We show that when the system contains gapless excitations the entanglement entropy of the ground state diverges with increasing system size. We derive and classify the scaling behaviors that can be met.