Environmentally-induced effects on a bipartite two-level system: geometric phase and entanglement properties

We calculate the geometric phase of a bipartite two-level system coupled to an external environment. We analyze the reduced density matrix for an arbitrary initial state of the composite system and compute the correction to the unitary geometric phase through a kinematic approach. In all cases considered, we observe a similar structure as a function of the degree of the entanglement of the initial state. Further, we compute the entanglement entropy and concurrence of the bipartite state and analyze if there is any relation among these quantities and the geometric phase acquired during the nonunitary system's evolution. Finally, we discuss the results obtained.