Dynamical entanglement and chaos: the case of Rydberg molecules

Abstract

A Rydberg molecule is composed of an outer electron that collides on the residual ionic core. Typical states of Rydberg molecules display entanglement between the outer electron and the core. In this work we quantify the average entanglement of molecular eigenstates and further investigate the time evolution of entanglement production from initially unentangled states. The results are contrasted with the underlying classical dynamics, obtained from the semiclassical limit of the core-electron collision. Our findings indicate that entanglement is not simply correlated with the degree of classical chaos, but rather depends on the specific phase-space features that give rise to inelastic scattering. Hence mixed phase-space or even regular classical dynamics can be associated with high entanglement generation.