Structure of Quantum Entanglement at a Finite Temperature Critical Point

Abstract

We propose a scheme to characterize long-range quantum entanglement close to a finite temperature critical point using tripartite entanglement negativity. As an application, we study a model with mean-field Ising critical exponents and find that the tripartite negativity does not exhibit any singularity in the thermodynamic limit across the transition. This indicates that the long-distance critical fluctuations are completely classical, allowing one to define a `quantum correlation length' that remains finite at the transition despite a divergent physical correlation length. Motivated by our model, we also study mixed state entanglement in tight-binding models of bosons with $U(1)$ and time-reversal symmetry. By employing Glauber-Sudarshan `P-representation', we find a surprising result that such states have zero entanglement.