Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1006.0047 · Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields

Entanglement Rényi entropies in holographic theories

Matthew Headrick

Published Dec 22, 2010• 536 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Ryu and Takayanagi conjectured a formula for the entanglement (von Neumann) entropy of an arbitrary spatial region in an arbitrary holographic field theory. The von Neumann entropy is a special case of a more general class of entropies called R\'enyi entropies. Using Euclidean gravity, Fursaev computed the entanglement R\'enyi entropies (EREs) of an arbitrary spatial region in an arbitrary holographic field theory, and thereby derived the RT formula. We point out, however, that his EREs are incorrect, since his putative saddle points do not in fact solve the Einstein equation. We remedy this situation in the case of two-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), considering regions consisting of one or two intervals. For a single interval, the EREs are known for a general CFT; we reproduce them using gravity. For two intervals, the RT formula predicts a phase transition in the entanglement entropy as a function of their separation, and that the mutual information between the intervals vanishes for separations larger than the phase transition point. By computing EREs using gravity and CFT techniques, we find evidence supporting both predictions. We also find evidence that large $N$ symmetric product theories have the same EREs as holographic ones.

DOI
10.1103/physrevd.82.126010

Related papers

Entanglement and Rényi entropy of multiple intervals in TT¯ -deformed CFT and holography

Hyun-Sik Jeong, Keun-young Kim A, Mitsuhiro Nishida

We study the entanglement entropy (EE) and the R\'enyi entropy (RE) of multiple intervals in two-dimensional $T\overline{T}$- deformed conformal field theory (CFT) at a finite temperature by field theoretic and holographic methods. First, by the replica method with the twist operators, we construct the general formula of the RE and EE up to the first order of a deformation parameter. By using our general formula, we show that the EE of multiple intervals for a holographic CFT is just a summation of the single interval case even with the small deformation. This is a nontrivial consequence from the field theory perspective, though it may be expected by the Ryu-Takayanagi formula in holography. However, the deformed RE of the two intervals is a summation of the single interval case only if the separations between the intervals are big enough. It can be understood by the tension of the cosmic branes dual to the RE. We also study the holographic EE for single and two intervals with an arbitrary cutoff radius (dual to the $T\overline{T}$ deformation) at any temperature. We confirm our holographic results agree with the field theory results with a small deformation and high temperature limit, as expected. For two intervals, there are two configurations for EE: disconnected ($s$-channel) and connected ($t$-channel) ones. We investigate the phase transition between them as we change parameters: as the deformation or temperature increases the phase transition is suppressed and the disconnected phase is more favored.

arXiv:1906.03894•Physical review. D/Physical review. D.•Nov 26, 2019•57 citations

Entanglement entropy in TT¯ -deformed CFT

Bin Chen, Lin Chen, Peng-Xiang Hao

In this paper, we study the entanglement entropy of a single interval on a cylinder in two-dimensional $T\overline{T}$-deformed conformal field theory (CFT). For such case, the (R\'enyi) entanglement entropy takes a universal form in a CFT. We compute the correction due to the deformation up to the leading order of the deformation parameter in the framework of the conformal perturbation theory. We find that the correction to the entanglement entropy is nonvanishing in the finite temperature case, while it is vanishing in the finite size case. For the deformed holographic large $c$ CFT, which is proposed to be dual to a ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{3}$ gravity in a finite region, we find the agreement with the holographic entanglement entropy via the Ryu-Takayanagi formula. Moreover, we compute the leading order correction to the R\'enyi entropy, and discuss its holographic picture as well.

arXiv:1807.08293•Physical review. D/Physical review. D.•Oct 29, 2018•96 citations

Entanglement Entropy at Large Central Charge

Thomas Hartman

Two-dimensional conformal field theories with a large central charge and a small number of low-dimension operators are studied using the conformal block expansion. A universal formula is derived for the Renyi entropies of N disjoint intervals in the ground state, valid to all orders in a series expansion. This is possible because the full perturbative answer in this regime comes from the exchange of the stress tensor and other descendants of the vacuum state. Therefore, the Renyi entropy is related to the Virasoro vacuum block at large central charge. The entanglement entropy, computed from the Renyi entropy by an analytic continuation, decouples into a sum of single-interval entanglements. This field theory result agrees with the Ryu-Takayanagi formula for the holographic entanglement entropy of a 2d CFT, applied to any number of intervals, and thus can be interpreted as a microscopic calculation of the area of minimal surfaces in 3d gravity.

arXiv:1303.6955•Mar 27, 2013•260 citations

The Entanglement Renyi Entropies of Disjoint Intervals in AdS/CFT

Thomas Faulkner

We study entanglement Renyi entropies (EREs) of 1+1 dimensional CFTs with classical gravity duals. Using the replica trick the EREs can be related to a partition function of n copies of the CFT glued together in a particular way along the intervals. In the case of two intervals this procedure defines a genus n-1 surface and our goal is to find smooth three dimensional gravitational solutions with this surface living at the boundary. We find two families of handlebody solutions labelled by the replica index n. These particular bulk solutions are distinguished by the fact that they do not spontaneously break the replica symmetries of the boundary surface. We show that the regularized classical action of these solutions is given in terms of a simple numerical prescription. If we assume that they give the dominant contribution to the gravity partition function we can relate this classical action to the EREs at leading order in G_N. We argue that the prescription can be formulated for non-integer n. Upon taking the limit n -> 1 the classical action reproduces the predictions of the Ryu-Takayanagi formula for the entanglement entropy.

arXiv:1303.7221•Mar 28, 2013•148 citations

Explorations in Holographic Entanglement Entropy

Aitor Lewkowycz

In this Dissertation, different aspects of holographic entanglement entropy are explored. In quantum information theory, entanglement is a useful resource needed to perform quantum operations. Entanglement entropy quantifies this resource and even if computable in quantum field theories, it is quite hard to calculate explicitly. However, in the context of gauge/gravity duality, (holographic) entanglement entropy was proposed by Ryu and Takayanagi (RT) to be captured by the area of a minimal surface in Anti DeSitter (AdS) space, which is extremely simple to compute. We begin by using the holographic dictionary to derive the RT formula. This is done by first considering smooth bulk geometries which are dual to n copies of the boundary geometry glued in a particular way. The action of these geometries computes the Renyi entropies S_n for any integer n. We give a prescription to analytically continue the action to non-integer n and argue that, as n goes to 1,S_1, the entanglement entropy, is given by the area of a minimal surface, reproducing the RT conjecture. That is, we reduced the RT proposal to the equality between bulk and boundary partition functions, a standard entry in the dictionary. We then generalize the previous formalism to account for corrections due to bulk quantum fields (1/N corrections in the boundary). This allows us to derive a new formula: boundary entanglement entropy is given by the area of the minimal surface plus bulk entanglement entropy. This extends RT beyond the planar limit and we present several predictions of the proposal. Our exploration of holographic entanglement entropy continues by considering different states: by comparing the quantum corrected entropy for nearby states we obtain the modular hamiltonian operator in bulk perturbation theory. From this expression of the modular hamiltonian, we derive that relative entropy is bulk relative entropy and that the modular flow is the bulk modular flow.

•Sep 27, 2016•0 citations

Entanglement entropy and algebraic holography

Bernard S. Kay

In 2006, Ryu and Takayanagi (RT) pointed out that (with a suitable cutoff) the entanglement entropy between two complementary regions of an equal-time surface of a d+1-dimensional conformal field theory on the conformal boundary of AdS_{d+2} is, when the AdS radius is appropriately related to the parameters of the CFT, equal to 1/4G times the area of the d-dimensional minimal surface in the AdS bulk which has the junction of those complementary regions as its boundary, where G is the bulk Newton constant. We point out here that the RT-equality implies that, in the quantum theory on the bulk AdS background which is related to the boundary CFT according to Rehren's 1999 algebraic holography theorem, the entanglement entropy between two complementary bulk Rehren wedges is equal to 1/4G times the (suitably cut off) area of their shared ridge. (This follows because of the geometrical fact that, for complementary ball-shaped regions, the RT minimal surface is precisely the shared ridge of the complementary bulk Rehren wedges which correspond, under Rehren's bulk-wedge to boundary double-cone bijection, to the complementary boundary double-cones whose bases are the RT complementary balls.) This is consistent with the Bianchi-Meyers conjecture -- that, in a theory of quantum gravity, the entanglement entropy, S, between the degrees of freedom of a given region with those of its complement is S = A/4G (+ lower order terms) -- but only if the phrase 'degrees of freedom' is replaced by 'matter degrees of freedom'. It also supports related previous arguments of the author -- consistent with the author's 'matter-gravity entanglement hypothesis' -- that the AdS/CFT correspondence is actually only a bijection between just the matter (i.e. non-gravity) sector operators of the bulk and the boundary CFT operators.

arXiv:1605.07872•May 25, 2016•0 citations
Ryu and Takayanagi conjectured a formula for the entanglement (von Neumann) entropy of an arbitrary spatial region in an arbitrary holographic field theory. The von Neumann entropy is a special case of a more general class of entropies called R'enyi entropies. Using Euclidean gravity, Fursaev computed the entanglement R'enyi entropies (EREs) of an arbitrary spatial region in an arbitrary holographic field theory, and thereby derived the RT formula. We point out, however, that his EREs are incorrect, since his putative saddle points do not in fact solve the Einstein equation. We remedy this situation in the case of two-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), considering regions consisting of one or two intervals. For a single interval, the EREs are known for a general CFT; we reproduce them using gravity. For two intervals, the RT formula predicts a phase transition in the entanglement entropy as a function of their separation, and that the mutual information between the intervals vanishes for separations larger than the phase transition point. By computing EREs using gravity and CFT techniques, we find evidence supporting both predictions. We also find evidence that large NNN symmetric product theories have the same EREs as holographic ones.
We study the entanglement entropy (EE) and the R\'enyi entropy (RE) of multiple intervals in two-dimensional TT‾T\overline{T}TT- deformed conformal field theory (CFT) at a finite temperature by field theoretic and holographic methods. First, by the replica method with the twist operators, we construct the general formula of the RE and EE up to the first order of a deformation parameter. By using our general formula, we show that the EE of multiple intervals for a holographic CFT is just a summation of the single interval case even with the small deformation. This is a nontrivial consequence from the field theory perspective, though it may be expected by the Ryu-Takayanagi formula in holography. However, the deformed RE of the two intervals is a summation of the single interval case only if the separations between the intervals are big enough. It can be understood by the tension of the cosmic branes dual to the RE. We also study the holographic EE for single and two intervals with an arbitrary cutoff radius (dual to the TT‾T\overline{T}TT deformation) at any temperature. We confirm our holographic results agree with the field theory results with a small deformation and high temperature limit, as expected. For two intervals, there are two configurations for EE: disconnected (sss-channel) and connected (ttt-channel) ones. We investigate the phase transition between them as we change parameters: as the deformation or temperature increases the phase transition is suppressed and the disconnected phase is more favored.
In this paper, we study the entanglement entropy of a single interval on a cylinder in two-dimensional TT‾T\overline{T}TT-deformed conformal field theory (CFT). For such case, the (R\'enyi) entanglement entropy takes a universal form in a CFT. We compute the correction due to the deformation up to the leading order of the deformation parameter in the framework of the conformal perturbation theory. We find that the correction to the entanglement entropy is nonvanishing in the finite temperature case, while it is vanishing in the finite size case. For the deformed holographic large ccc CFT, which is proposed to be dual to a AdS3{\mathrm{AdS}}_{3}AdS3​ gravity in a finite region, we find the agreement with the holographic entanglement entropy via the Ryu-Takayanagi formula. Moreover, we compute the leading order correction to the R\'enyi entropy, and discuss its holographic picture as well.
Two-dimensional conformal field theories with a large central charge and a small number of low-dimension operators are studied using the conformal block expansion. A universal formula is derived for the Renyi entropies of N disjoint intervals in the ground state, valid to all orders in a series expansion. This is possible because the full perturbative answer in this regime comes from the exchange of the stress tensor and other descendants of the vacuum state. Therefore, the Renyi entropy is related to the Virasoro vacuum block at large central charge. The entanglement entropy, computed from the Renyi entropy by an analytic continuation, decouples into a sum of single-interval entanglements. This field theory result agrees with the Ryu-Takayanagi formula for the holographic entanglement entropy of a 2d CFT, applied to any number of intervals, and thus can be interpreted as a microscopic calculation of the area of minimal surfaces in 3d gravity.
We study entanglement Renyi entropies (EREs) of 1+1 dimensional CFTs with classical gravity duals. Using the replica trick the EREs can be related to a partition function of n copies of the CFT glued together in a particular way along the intervals. In the case of two intervals this procedure defines a genus n-1 surface and our goal is to find smooth three dimensional gravitational solutions with this surface living at the boundary. We find two families of handlebody solutions labelled by the replica index n. These particular bulk solutions are distinguished by the fact that they do not spontaneously break the replica symmetries of the boundary surface. We show that the regularized classical action of these solutions is given in terms of a simple numerical prescription. If we assume that they give the dominant contribution to the gravity partition function we can relate this classical action to the EREs at leading order in G_N. We argue that the prescription can be formulated for non-integer n. Upon taking the limit n -> 1 the classical action reproduces the predictions of the Ryu-Takayanagi formula for the entanglement entropy.
In this Dissertation, different aspects of holographic entanglement entropy are explored. In quantum information theory, entanglement is a useful resource needed to perform quantum operations. Entanglement entropy quantifies this resource and even if computable in quantum field theories, it is quite hard to calculate explicitly. However, in the context of gauge/gravity duality, (holographic) entanglement entropy was proposed by Ryu and Takayanagi (RT) to be captured by the area of a minimal surface in Anti DeSitter (AdS) space, which is extremely simple to compute. We begin by using the holographic dictionary to derive the RT formula. This is done by first considering smooth bulk geometries which are dual to n copies of the boundary geometry glued in a particular way. The action of these geometries computes the Renyi entropies S_n for any integer n. We give a prescription to analytically continue the action to non-integer n and argue that, as n goes to 1,S_1, the entanglement entropy, is given by the area of a minimal surface, reproducing the RT conjecture. That is, we reduced the RT proposal to the equality between bulk and boundary partition functions, a standard entry in the dictionary. We then generalize the previous formalism to account for corrections due to bulk quantum fields (1/N corrections in the boundary). This allows us to derive a new formula: boundary entanglement entropy is given by the area of the minimal surface plus bulk entanglement entropy. This extends RT beyond the planar limit and we present several predictions of the proposal. Our exploration of holographic entanglement entropy continues by considering different states: by comparing the quantum corrected entropy for nearby states we obtain the modular hamiltonian operator in bulk perturbation theory. From this expression of the modular hamiltonian, we derive that relative entropy is bulk relative entropy and that the modular flow is the bulk modular flow.
In 2006, Ryu and Takayanagi (RT) pointed out that (with a suitable cutoff) the entanglement entropy between two complementary regions of an equal-time surface of a d+1-dimensional conformal field theory on the conformal boundary of AdS_{d+2} is, when the AdS radius is appropriately related to the parameters of the CFT, equal to 1/4G times the area of the d-dimensional minimal surface in the AdS bulk which has the junction of those complementary regions as its boundary, where G is the bulk Newton constant. We point out here that the RT-equality implies that, in the quantum theory on the bulk AdS background which is related to the boundary CFT according to Rehren's 1999 algebraic holography theorem, the entanglement entropy between two complementary bulk Rehren wedges is equal to 1/4G times the (suitably cut off) area of their shared ridge. (This follows because of the geometrical fact that, for complementary ball-shaped regions, the RT minimal surface is precisely the shared ridge of the complementary bulk Rehren wedges which correspond, under Rehren's bulk-wedge to boundary double-cone bijection, to the complementary boundary double-cones whose bases are the RT complementary balls.) This is consistent with the Bianchi-Meyers conjecture -- that, in a theory of quantum gravity, the entanglement entropy, S, between the degrees of freedom of a given region with those of its complement is S = A/4G (+ lower order terms) -- but only if the phrase 'degrees of freedom' is replaced by 'matter degrees of freedom'. It also supports related previous arguments of the author -- consistent with the author's 'matter-gravity entanglement hypothesis' -- that the AdS/CFT correspondence is actually only a bijection between just the matter (i.e. non-gravity) sector operators of the bulk and the boundary CFT operators.