Entanglement in a Dimerized Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg Chain

The entanglement properties in an antiferromagnetic dimerized Heisenberg spin-1/2 chain are investigated. The entanglement gap, which is the difference between the ground-state energy and the minimal energy that any separable state can attain, is calculated to detect the entanglement. It is found that the entanglement gap can be increased by varying the alternation parameter. Through thermal energy, the witness of the entanglement can determine a characteristic temperature below that an entangled state can be obtained. The entanglement detected by the energy can provide a lower bound for that determined by the concurrence. If the alternation parameter is smaller than a critical value, there is always no inter-dimer entanglement in the chain.