Entangled Markov Chains generated by Symmetric Channels

Abstract

A notion of entangled Markov chain was introduced by Accardi and Fidaleo in the context of quantum random walk. They proved that, in the finite dimensional case, the corresponding states have vanishing entropy density, but they did not prove that they are entangled. In the present note this entropy result is extended to the infinite dimensional case under the assumption of finite speed of hopping. Then the entanglement problem is discussed for spin 1/2, entangled Markov chains generated by a binary symmetric channel with hopping probability $1-q$. The von Neumann entropy of these states, restricted on a sublattice is explicitly calculated and shown to be independent of the size of the sublattice. This is a new, purely quantum, phenomenon. Finally the entanglement property between the sublattices ${\cal A}(\{0,1,...,N\})$ and ${\cal A}(\{N+1\})$ is investigated using the PPT criterium. It turns out that, for $q\neq 0,1,{1/2}$ the states are non separable, thus truly entangled, while for $q=0,1,{1/2}$, they are separable.