In many cases, measurements are performed on “mixed” ensembles of realizations of a system, which cannot be associated with a single vector in its Hilbert space. In these cases the state of the system is represented by a proper “density operator.” It is instructive to associate density operators with state vectors in a vector space, termed Liouville’s space, where the Schrödinger equation is reformulated as the Liouville–Von Neumann equation. An important consequence of this equation is that the density operator of a system at equilibrium must commute with its Hamiltonian. Namely, the matrix representation of the density operator in the basis of Hamiltonian eigenstates is diagonal, where the diagonal elements are the relative populations of the system’s Hamiltonian eigenstates. The equilibrium populations are revealed by maximizing the (Von Neumann) entropy, subject to given constraints. We derive the equilibrium density operator explicitly for the cases of canonical and grand canonical ensembles.

The overview of the principles of quantum statistical mechanics are given, emphasizing the fundamental differences with respect to classical statistical mechanics, as well as the analogies prevailing for the formulation of the properties. A functional time-reversal symmetry relation is presented, allowing the deduction of response theory. The Kubo formula is obtained for the linear response properties and the fluctuation–dissipation theorem is established. For weakly coupled systems, the quantum master equation and the corresponding stochastic Schrödinger equation are deduced. The slippage of initial conditions is discussed in relation to the positivity of the reduced statistical operator. The results are illustrated with the spin-boson model.

This chapter introduces the notion of entanglement, methods of detection, and various types of two atomic ensemble entangled states. Bipartite The bipartite system constitutes is the simplest and most straightforward way of understanding entanglement, where there is a well-developed theory of detecting and quantifying it. We discuss how von Neumann entropy and negativity are two simple and powerful quantifiers of entanglement in pure and mixed systems, respectively. In the absence of a way to topographically reconstruct the density matrix, other correlation-based entanglement criteria are important practically, since they only involve the measurement of some key correlations. Various approaches to this are introduced, such as the Duan--Giedke--Cirac--Zoller criterion, Hillery--Zubairy criteria, entanglement witness approaches, and covariance matrices. Finally, two types of squeezed states for two atomic ensembles are introduced, : namely the one-axis two-spin and two-axis two-spin squeezed states are introduced.