Dynamics of entanglement between two harmonic modes in stable and unstable regimes

Abstract

The exact dynamics of the entanglement between two harmonic modes generated by an angular momentum coupling is examined. Such a system arises when considering a particle in a rotating anisotropic harmonic trap or a charged particle in a fixed harmonic potential in a magnetic field, and it exhibits a rich dynamical structure, with stable, unstable, and critical regimes according to the values of the rotational frequency or field and trap parameters. Consequently, it is shown that the entanglement generated from an initially separable Gaussian state can exhibit quite distinct evolutions, ranging from quasiperiodic behavior in stable sectors to different types of unbounded increase in critical and unstable regions. The latter lead, respectively, to logarithmic and linear growth of the entanglement entropy with time. It is also shown that entanglement can be controlled by tuning the frequency, such that it can be increased, kept constant, or returned to a vanishing value with just stepwise frequency variations. Exact asymptotic expressions for the entanglement entropy in the different dynamical regimes are provided. © 2014 American Physical Society.