We study the dynamics of quantum correlations in a class of exactly solvable Ising-type models. We analyze in particular the time evolution of initial Bell states created in a fully polarized background and on the ground state. We find that the pairwise entanglement propagates with a velocity proportional to the reduced interaction for all the four Bell states. Singletlike states are favored during the propagation, in the sense that tripletlike states change their character during the propagation under certain circumstances. Characteristic for the anisotropic models is the instantaneous creation of pairwise entanglement from a fully polarized state; furthermore, the propagation of pairwise entanglement is suppressed in favor of a creation of different types of entanglement. The “entanglement wave” evolving from a Bell state on the ground state turns out to be very localized in space time. Our findings agree with a recently formulated conjecture on entanglement sharing; some results are interpreted in terms of this conjecture.

• Received 10 July 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.69.022304