Non-separable states in a bipartite elastic system

We consider two one-dimensional harmonic chains coupled along their length via linear springs. Casting the elastic wave equation for this system in a Dirac-like form reveals a directional representation. The elastic band structure, in a spectral representation, is constituted of two branches corresponding to symmetric and antisymmetric modes. In the directional representation, the antisymmetric states of the elastic waves possess a plane wave orbital part and a 4x1 spinor part. Two of the components of the spinor part of the wave function relate to the amplitude of the forward component of waves propagating in both chains. The other two components relate to the amplitude of the backward component of waves. The 4x1 spinorial state of the two coupled chains is supported by the tensor product Hilbert space of two identical subsystems composed of a non-interacting chain with linear springs coupled to a rigid substrate. The 4x1 spinor of the coupled system is shown to be in general not separable into the tensor product of the two 2x1 spinors of the uncoupled subsystems in the directional representation. (C) 2017 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).