Observable criterion for collective entanglement in Boson-lattice system

An optical lattice with cold trapped atoms represents a quantum system of fundamental importance as it enables the study of quantum many-body system in a controllable way. It is thus necessary to develop theoretical and experimental tools to explore quantum correlation in such systems to advance our understanding of many-body physics. While previous works have identified some profound aspects of quantum entanglement using e.g. entanglement entropy, there exists a critical demand to have an experimentally accessible tool to investigate many-body quantum entanglement in a broad context. We present an entanglement criterion characterizing collective entanglement in Boson lattice systems and enabling experimental observation readily. On applying our approach to the extended Bose-Hubbard model, we show that our criterion witnesses phase transitions such as Mott insulator–superfluid and Mott insulator–charge density wave transitions. Remarkably, it also makes it possible to detect multipartite entanglement among boson lattice sites in a rigorous sense. Our criterion can be experimentally tested via Raman scattering or time-of-flight methods, which are within the reach of current technology.