  The problem of entanglement produced by an arbitrary operator is formulated
and a related measure of entanglement production is introduced. This measure of
entanglement production satisfies all properties natural for such a
characteristic. A particular case is the entanglement produced by a density
operator or a density matrix. The suggested measure is valid for operations
over pure states as well as over mixed states, for equilibrium as well as
nonequilibrium processes. Systems of arbitrary nature can be treated, described
either by field operators, spin operators, or any other kind of operators,
which is realized by constructing generalized density matrices. The interplay
between entanglement production and phase transitions in statistical systems is
analysed by the examples of Bose-Einstein condensation, superconducting
transition, and magnetic transitions. The relation between the measure of
entanglement production and order indices is analysed.
