Entanglement in a complex plasma

Abstract

Quantum mechanical approach is extended to the interaction of dust particles in a complex plasma. Massive and highly charged dust particles interact each other through the exchange of quasi-particles (virtual waves) in a quantum mechanical viewpoint. The interaction is described by the Hamiltonian, which describes the two-particle system as uncoupled harmonic oscillators. When the pair of dust particles are embedded in the injected plasma wave, the Hamiltonian is found to show the presence of coupled harmonic oscillator indicating the emergence of the entanglement in semiclassical nature. The entanglement of a pair of dust particles is encapsulated in the Hamiltonian, which is formulated by the method of second quantization. The frequency of the wave to trigger the emergence of the entanglement is found to be one-half of the dust plasma frequency. The interaction between a pair of dust particles is formulated as a scattering process and is described by the transition probability. Measure of the semiclassical entanglement is shown by the entropy, and the resulting entropy is found to increase with time.