Spatial entanglement of nonvacuum Gaussian states

The vacuum state of a relativistic quantum field contains entanglement between regions separated by spacelike intervals. Such spatial entanglement can be revealed using an operational method introduced in Ann. Phys. 351, 112 (2014), Phys. Rev. D 91, 016005 (2014). In this approach, a cavity is instantaneously divided into halves by an introduction of an extra perfect mirror. Causal separation of the two regions of the cavity reveals nonlocal spatial correlations present in the field, which can be quantified by measuring particles generated in the process. We use this method to study spatial entanglement properties of nonvacuum Gaussian field states. In particular we show how to enhance the amount of harvested spatial entanglement by an appropriate choice of the initial state of the field in the cavity. We find a counterintuitive influence of the initial entanglement between cavity modes on the spatial entanglement which is revealed by dividing the cavity in half.