Entanglement induced in spin-1/2 particles by a spin chain near its critical points

A relation between entanglement and criticality of spin chains is established. The entanglement we exploit is shared between auxiliary particles, which are isolated from each other, but are coupled to the same critical spin-1/2 chain. We analytically evaluate the reduced density matrix, and numerically show the entanglement of the auxiliary particles in the proximity of the critical points of the spin chain. We find that the entanglement induced by the spin chain may reach 1, and it can signal very well the critical points of the chain. A physical understanding and experimental realization with trapped ions are presented.