Production and detection of entangled electron-hole pairs in a degenerate electron gas

Abstract

We demonstrate theoretically that the shot noise produced by a tunnel barrier in a two-channel conductor violates a Bell inequality. The non-locality is shown to originate from entangled electron-hole pairs created by tunneling events -- without requiring electron-electron interactions. The degree of entanglement (concurrence) equals 2(T_1 T_2)^1/2 (T_1+T_2)^-1, with T_1,T_2 << 1 the transmission eigenvalues. A pair of edge channels in the quantum Hall effect is proposed as experimental realization.

4 pages including 1 figure; three comments have been added to the reference list, addressing the entanglement of formation, the Clauser-Horne inequality, and the dephasing effect of a finite voltage