Spin-orbital entanglement and spatial anisotropy of deuteron

Abstract

Background: The nuclear tensor force couples the spin and orbital degrees of freedom, thereby generating spin-orbital (SO) entanglement. This interaction also induces spatial anisotropy of density distributions. While the tensor force underlies both phenomena, the direct connection between them remains unclear. Purpose: We clarify the quantitative relationship between the SO entanglement and spatial anisotropy of the deuteron. This system provides a fully analytical description of both features. Methods: We quantify the SO entanglement by the entanglement entropy and spatial anisotropy by the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence. Their evolution is traced by continuously varying the $S$-$D$ coupling in the deuteron. Results: We derive analytical expressions for the entanglement entropy and KL divergence, both of which depend on $M$, the projection of the deuteron total angular momentum $J=1$. The stronger the tensor-force-induced $S$-$D$ coupling is, the larger both the entanglement entropy and KL divergence become. Conclusions: The analytical results and the positive correlation between the two quantities clearly demonstrate that the two features stem from the same underlying coupling mechanism governed by the algebraic structure of the deuteron wave function.