Quantum phase transitions in matter are characterized by qualitative changes in some correlation functions of the system, which are ultimately related to entanglement. In this work, we study the second-order quantum phase transitions present in models of relevance to condensed-matter physics by exploiting the notion of generalized entanglement [Barnum et al., Phys. Rev. A 68, 032308 (2003)]. In particular, we focus on the illustrative case of a one-dimensional spin-1/2 Ising model in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. Our approach leads to tools useful for distinguishing between the ordered and disordered phases in the case of broken-symmetry quantum phase transitions. Possible extensions to the study of other kinds of phase transitions as well as of the relationship between generalized entanglement and computational efficiency are also discussed.
Quantum phase transitions in a quasi-one-dimensional Ising quantum magnet in transverse fields
