Crucial role of quantum entanglement in bulk properties of solids

We demonstrate that two well-established experimental techniques of condensed-matter physics, neutron-diffraction scattering and measurement of magnetic susceptibility, can be used to detect and quantify macroscopic entanglement in solids. Specifically, magnetic susceptibility of copper nitrate (CN) measured in 1963 cannot be described without presence of entanglement. A detailed analysis of the spin correlations in CN as obtained from neutron-scattering experiment from 2000 provides microscopic support for this interpretation and gives the value for the amount of entanglement. We present a quantitative analysis resulting in the critical temperature of 5 K in both, completely independent, experiments below which entanglement exists. © 2006 The American Physical Society.