Visualizing the quantum phase transition by using quantum steering ellipsoids in the anisotropic spin XY model

Abstract Quantum steering ellipsoids (QSEs) can serve as a useful geometric tool for describing both the strength and type of quantum correlations between two subsystems of a compound system. By employing the quantum renormalization-group method, we focus on investigating the relation between QSEs and the quantum phase transition (QPT) in the anisotropic spin XY model. The results indicate that the QPT is well visualized in terms of the shape of the QSE, i.e. it is an oblate spheroid in the spin-fluid phase and a needle in the Néel phase. Meanwhile, after several iterations of renormalization, the QSE volume V undergoes a contraction mutation, and can develop two saturated values at the critical points associated with the QPT, which correspond to two different phases: the spin-fluid phase and the Néel phase. We also find that the QSE is closely associated with quantum entanglement in the model, i.e. the volume of the QSE between blocks is more than 4 π /81 when the system is in the spin-fluid phase, which indicates that the system must be entangled. Furthermore, the nonanalytic and scaling behaviors of the volume of the QSE have been analyzed in detail, and the results convince us that the quantum critical properties are connected with the behavior of the QSE.