Entanglement entropy in a periodically driven quantum Ising ring

Abstract

We numerically study the dynamics of entanglement entropy, induced by an oscillating time periodic driving of the transverse field, h(t), of a one-dimensional quantum Ising ring. We consider several realizations of h(t), and we find a number of results in analogy with entanglement entropy dynamics induced by a sudden quantum quench. After a short-time relaxation, the dynamics of entanglement entropy synchronizes with h(t), displaying an oscillatory behavior at the frequency of the driving. Synchronization in the dynamics of entanglement entropy is spoiled by the appearance of quasirevivals which fade out in the thermodynamic limit, and which we interpret using a quasiparticle picture adapted to periodic drivings. We show that the time-averaged entanglement entropy in the synchronized regime obeys a volume law scaling with the subsystem's size. Such result is reminiscent of a thermal state or a generalized Gibbs ensemble, although the system does not heat up towards infinite temperature as a consequence of the integrability of the model.