Entanglement in an open Heisenberg spin chain

Abstract

We analyze the time evolution of a spin chain of three qubits with nearest-neighbour Heisenberg XX interaction, coupled to two thermal reservoirs. We use the ‘reduced density matrix approach’ to calculate the populations and correlations (concurrence) among the spins. The spin-reservoir interaction is of the energy conserving type. This allows us to analyze the evolution analytically without approximations – yielding explicit, yet complicated formulas for the spin dynamics. To analyze the latter and discuss it as a function of the various physical parameters and time (intial conditions, termperatures, coupling strenghts), we resort to numerical methods. Our main finding is that the external noise (coupling to reservoirs) causes the appearence of an asymptotic, stationary (time-periodic) regime for the dynamics of concurrence. We discuss the dependence of the relaxation time and the characteristics of the regime itself, on the various parameters.