Probing the Lee–Yang zeros of a spin bath by correlation functions and entanglement of two spins

We study the Lee–Yang zeros of the quantum ferromagnetic Ising bath via the interaction with the two probe spins. Similarly, as in an earlier paper (Wei and Liu 2012 Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 185701), the problem of detecting the zeros is reduced to the exploration of the time evolution of the probe spins. As a result, the relation between the Lee–Yang zeros of the bath and correlation functions of the probe system is obtained. Also, we obtain the relation between the Lee–Yang zeros and values of the entanglement of the probe spins. We apply these results to the 1D Ising spin model with nearest-neighbor interaction, which can be prepared on trapped atoms. (paper)