  We compute the entropy of entanglement in the ground states of a general
class of quantum spin-chain Hamiltonians - those that are related to quadratic
forms of Fermi operators - between the first N spins and the rest of the system
in the limit of infinite total chain length. We show that the entropy can be
expressed in terms of averages over the classical compact groups and establish
an explicit correspondence between the symmetries of a given Hamiltonian and
those characterizing the Haar measure of the associated group. These averages
are either Toeplitz determinants or determinants of combinations of Toeplitz
and Hankel matrices. Recent generalizations of the Fisher-Hartwig conjecture
are used to compute the leading order asymptotics of the entropy as N -->
infinity . This is shown to grow logarithmically with N. The constant of
proportionality is determined explicitly, as is the next (constant) term in the
asymptotic expansion. The logarithmic growth of the entropy was previously
predicted on the basis of numerical computations and conformal-field-theoretic
calculations. In these calculations the constant of proportionality was
determined in terms of the central charge of the Virasoro algebra. Our results
therefore lead to an explicit formula for this charge. We also show that the
entropy is related to solutions of ordinary differential equations of
Painlev\'e type. In some cases these solutions can be evaluated to all orders
using recurrence relations.
