Separable states and geometric phases of an interacting two-spin system

It is known that an interacting bipartite system evolves as an entangled state in general, even if it is initially in a separable state. Due to the entanglement of the state, the geometric phase of the system is not equal to the sum of the geometric phases of its two subsystems. However, there may exist a set of states in which the nonlocal interaction does not affect the separability of the states, and the geometric phase of the bipartite system is then always equal to the sum of the geometric phases of its subsystems. In this article, we illustrate this point by investigating a well-known physical model. We give a necessary and sufficient condition in which a separable state remains separable so that the geometric phase of the system is always equal to the sum of the geometric phases of its subsystems. ©2010 The American Physical Society