Entanglement and the SU(2) phase states in atomic systems

For the system of two identical two-level atoms interacting with a single photon, it is shown that the maximum entangled atomic states are represented by the SU(2) phase states of spin 1/2. Furthermore, it is shown that the SU(2) phase states of the half-integer spin j for a certain class of maximum entangled atomic states in the system of 2n atoms interacting with n photons. In particular, the violation of classical realism is shown