Department of Mathematics

We derive bounds for the entanglement of a spin with an (adjacent and non-adjacent) interval of spins in an arbitrary pure finitely correlated state (FCS) on a chain of spins of any magnitude. Finitely correlated states are otherwise known as matrix product states or generalized valence-bond states. The bounds become exact in the limit of the entanglement of a single spin and the half-infinite chain to the right (or the left) of it. Our bounds provide a proof of the recent conjecture by Benatti, Hiesmayr, and Narnhofer that their necessary condition for non-vanishing entanglement in terms of a single spin and the ``memory'' of the FCS, is also sufficient . Our result also generalizes the study of entanglement in the ground state of the AKLT model by Fan, Korepin, and Roychowdhury. Our result permits one to calculate more efficiently, numerically and in some cases even analytically, the entanglement of arbitrary finitely correlated quantum spin chains.