Entanglement and U(D)-spin squeezing in symmetric multi-quDit systems and applications to quantum phase transitions in Lipkin–Meshkov–Glick D-level atom models

Collective spin operators for symmetric multi-quDit (namely identical D-level atom) systems generate a U(D) symmetry. We explore generalizations to arbitrary D of SU(2)-spin coherent states and their adaptation to parity (multi-component Schrödinger cats), together with multi-mode extensions of NOON states. We write level, one- and two-quDit reduced density matrices of symmetric N-quDit states, expressed in the last two cases in terms of collective U(D)-spin operator expectation values. Then, we evaluate level and particle entanglement for symmetric multi-quDit states with linear and von Neumann entropies of the corresponding reduced density matrices. In particular, we analyze the numerical and variational ground state of Lipkin–Meshkov–Glick models of 3-level identical atoms. We also propose an extension of the concept of SU(2)-spin squeezing to SU(D) and relate it to pairwise D-level atom entanglement. Squeezing parameters and entanglement entropies are good markers that characterize the different quantum phases, and their corresponding critical points, that take place in these interacting D-level atom models.