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:1405.2804 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Entanglement entropy of non-unitary conformal field theory

D Bianchini, Olalla A. Castro-Alvaredo, B Doyon, E Levi, Francesco Ravanini

Published Dec 24, 2014• 113 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Here we show that the Rényi entanglement entropy of a region of large size ℓ in a one-dimensional critical model whose ground state breaks conformal invariance (such as in those described by non-unitary conformal field theories), behaves as , where is the effective central charge, c (which may be negative) is the central charge of the conformal field theory and is the lowest holomorphic conformal dimension in the theory. We also obtain results for models with boundaries, and with a large but finite correlation length, and we show that if the lowest conformal eigenspace is logarithmic ( with N nilpotent), then there is an additional term proportional to . These results generalize the well known expressions for unitary models. We provide a general proof, and report on numerical evidence for a non-unitary spin chain and an analytical computation using the corner transfer matrix method for a non-unitary lattice model. We use a new algebraic technique for studying the branching that arises within the replica approach, and find a new expression for the entanglement entropy in terms of correlation functions of twist fields for non-unitary models.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8113/48/4/04ft01

Related papers

Entanglement entropy of non-unitary integrable quantum field theory

Davide Bianchini, Olalla A. Castro-Alvaredo, Benjamin Doyon

In this paper we study the simplest massive 1+1 dimensional integrable quantum field theory which can be described as a perturbation of a non-unitary minimal conformal field theory: the Lee-Yang model. We are particularly interested in the features of the bi-partite entanglement entropy for this model and on building blocks thereof, namely twist field form factors. Non-unitarity selects out a new type of twist field as the operator whose two-point function (appropriately normalized) yields the entanglement entropy. We compute this two-point function both from a form factor expansion and by means of perturbed conformal field theory. We find good agreement with CFT predictions put forward in a recent work involving the present authors. In particular, our results are consistent with a scaling of the entanglement entropy given by $\frac{c_{\text{eff}}}{3}\log \ell$ where $c_{\text{eff}}$ is the effective central charge of the theory (a positive number related to the central charge) and $\ell$ is the size of the region. Furthermore the form factor expansion of twist fields allows us to explore the large region limit of the entanglement entropy and find the next-to-leading order correction to saturation. We find that this correction is very different from its counterpart in unitary models. Whereas in the latter case, it had a form depending only on few parameters of the model (the particle spectrum), it appears to be much more model-dependent for non-unitary models.

arXiv:1502.03275•Nuclear Physics B•May 14, 2015•45 citations

Entanglement entropy from corner transfer matrix in Forrester–Baxter non-unitary RSOS models

Davide Bianchini, Francesco Ravanini

Abstract Using a corner transfer matrix approach, we compute the bipartite entanglement Rényi entropy in the off-critical perturbations of non-unitary conformal minimal models realised by lattice spin chains Hamiltonians related to the Forrester–Baxter RSOS models (Bianchini et al 2015 J. Stat. Mech. P03010 ) in regime III. This allows to show on a set of explicit examples that the Rényi entropies for non-unitary theories rescale near criticality as the logarithm of the correlation length with a coefficient proportional to the effective central charge. This complements a similar result, recently established for the size rescaling at the critical point (Bianchini et al 2015 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 48 04FT01 ), showing the expected agreement of the two behaviours. We also compute the first subleading unusual correction to the scaling behaviour, showing that it is expressible in terms of expansions of various fractional powers of the correlation length, related to the differences between the conformal dimensions of fields in the theory and the minimal conformal dimension. Finally, a few observations on the limit leading to the off-critical logarithmic minimal models of Pearce and Seaton (2012 J. Stat. Mech. P09014 ) are put forward.

arXiv:1509.04601•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Mar 3, 2016•27 citations

Scaling of Entanglement Entropy at Deconfined Quantum Criticality

Jiarui Zhao, Yan-Cheng Wang, Zheng Yan +2 more

We develop a nonequilibrium increment method to compute the Rényi entanglement entropy and investigate its scaling behavior at the deconfined critical (DQC) point via large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. To benchmark the method, we first show that, at a conformally invariant critical point of O(3) transition, the entanglement entropy exhibits universal scaling behavior of area law with logarithmic corner corrections, and the obtained correction exponent represents the current central charge of the critical theory. Then we move on to the deconfined quantum critical point, where we still observe similar scaling behavior, but with a very different exponent. Namely, the corner correction exponent is found to be negative. Such a negative exponent is in sharp contrast with the positivity condition of the Rényi entanglement entropy, which holds for unitary conformal field theories (CFTs). Our results unambiguously reveal fundamental differences between DQC and quantum critical points described by unitary CFTs.

arXiv:2107.06305•Physical Review Letters•Jan 3, 2022•87 citations

Entanglement entropies in conformal systems with boundaries

Luca Taddia, J. C. Xavier, Francisco Castilho Alcaraz +1 more

We study the entanglement entropies in one-dimensional open critical systems, whose effective description is given by a conformal field theory with boundaries. We show that, for pure-state systems formed by the ground state or by the excited states associated to primary fields, the entanglement entropies have a finite-size behavior that depends on the correlation of the underlying field theory. The analytical results are checked numerically, finding excellent agreement for the quantum chains ruled by the theories with central charge $c=1/2$ and 1.

arXiv:1302.6222•Physical Review B•Aug 5, 2013•59 citations

Entanglement entropy in integrable quantum systems

Davide Bianchini

In this thesis I present the results I have been developing during my PhD studies at City University London. The original results are based on D Bianchini et al, D Bianchini, O Castro-Alvaredo and B Doyon, D Bianchini and F Ravanini, D Bianchini et al and D Bianchini and O Castro-Alvaredo. In all but one publications, we compute the entanglement of various systems. Using the celebrated “replica trick” we compute the entanglement entropy of non unitary systems using integrable tools in continuum and discrete models. In particular, in the first article we generalise the method described in the seventh article in order to take into account non unitary conformal systems. In the second article we use a form factor expansion to probe a non unitary system outside the critical point. In the fourth article we derive the explicit expressions of one dimensional quantum Hamiltonians which provide a lattice realisation of off critical non unitary minimal models. Using a Corner Transfer Matrix approach we compute the scaling of the entanglement of such spin chains. In the fifth article we study the scaling of various twist field correlation functions in order to compute the entanglement entropy and the logarithmic negativity in free boson massive theories.

•Jan 1, 2016•0 citations

Entanglement entropy of two disjoint intervals inc= 1 theories

Vincenzo Alba, Luca Tagliacozzo, Pasquale Calabrese

We study the scaling of the Renyi entanglement entropy of two disjoint blocks of critical lattice models described by conformal field theories with central charge c=1. We provide the analytic conformal field theory result for the second order Renyi entropy for a free boson compactified on an orbifold describing the scaling limit of the Ashkin-Teller (AT) model on the self-dual line. We have checked this prediction in cluster Monte Carlo simulations of the classical two dimensional AT model. We have also performed extensive numerical simulations of the anisotropic Heisenberg quantum spin-chain with tree-tensor network techniques that allowed to obtain the reduced density matrices of disjoint blocks of the spin-chain and to check the correctness of the predictions for Renyi and entanglement entropies from conformal field theory. In order to match these predictions, we have extrapolated the numerical results by properly taking into account the corrections induced by the finite length of the blocks to the leading scaling behavior.

arXiv:1103.3166•Journal of Statistical Mechanics Theory and Experiment•Jun 15, 2011•85 citations
Here we show that the Rényi entanglement entropy of a region of large size ℓ in a one-dimensional critical model whose ground state breaks conformal invariance (such as in those described by non-unitary conformal field theories), behaves as , where is the effective central charge, c (which may be negative) is the central charge of the conformal field theory and is the lowest holomorphic conformal dimension in the theory. We also obtain results for models with boundaries, and with a large but finite correlation length, and we show that if the lowest conformal eigenspace is logarithmic ( with N nilpotent), then there is an additional term proportional to . These results generalize the well known expressions for unitary models. We provide a general proof, and report on numerical evidence for a non-unitary spin chain and an analytical computation using the corner transfer matrix method for a non-unitary lattice model. We use a new algebraic technique for studying the branching that arises within the replica approach, and find a new expression for the entanglement entropy in terms of correlation functions of twist fields for non-unitary models.
In this paper we study the simplest massive 1+1 dimensional integrable quantum field theory which can be described as a perturbation of a non-unitary minimal conformal field theory: the Lee-Yang model. We are particularly interested in the features of the bi-partite entanglement entropy for this model and on building blocks thereof, namely twist field form factors. Non-unitarity selects out a new type of twist field as the operator whose two-point function (appropriately normalized) yields the entanglement entropy. We compute this two-point function both from a form factor expansion and by means of perturbed conformal field theory. We find good agreement with CFT predictions put forward in a recent work involving the present authors. In particular, our results are consistent with a scaling of the entanglement entropy given by ceff3log⁡ℓ\frac{c_{\text{eff}}}{3}\log \ell3ceff​​logℓ where ceffc_{\text{eff}}ceff​ is the effective central charge of the theory (a positive number related to the central charge) and ℓ\ellℓ is the size of the region. Furthermore the form factor expansion of twist fields allows us to explore the large region limit of the entanglement entropy and find the next-to-leading order correction to saturation. We find that this correction is very different from its counterpart in unitary models. Whereas in the latter case, it had a form depending only on few parameters of the model (the particle spectrum), it appears to be much more model-dependent for non-unitary models.
Abstract Using a corner transfer matrix approach, we compute the bipartite entanglement Rényi entropy in the off-critical perturbations of non-unitary conformal minimal models realised by lattice spin chains Hamiltonians related to the Forrester–Baxter RSOS models (Bianchini et al 2015 J. Stat. Mech. P03010 ) in regime III. This allows to show on a set of explicit examples that the Rényi entropies for non-unitary theories rescale near criticality as the logarithm of the correlation length with a coefficient proportional to the effective central charge. This complements a similar result, recently established for the size rescaling at the critical point (Bianchini et al 2015 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 48 04FT01 ), showing the expected agreement of the two behaviours. We also compute the first subleading unusual correction to the scaling behaviour, showing that it is expressible in terms of expansions of various fractional powers of the correlation length, related to the differences between the conformal dimensions of fields in the theory and the minimal conformal dimension. Finally, a few observations on the limit leading to the off-critical logarithmic minimal models of Pearce and Seaton (2012 J. Stat. Mech. P09014 ) are put forward.
We develop a nonequilibrium increment method to compute the Rényi entanglement entropy and investigate its scaling behavior at the deconfined critical (DQC) point via large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. To benchmark the method, we first show that, at a conformally invariant critical point of O(3) transition, the entanglement entropy exhibits universal scaling behavior of area law with logarithmic corner corrections, and the obtained correction exponent represents the current central charge of the critical theory. Then we move on to the deconfined quantum critical point, where we still observe similar scaling behavior, but with a very different exponent. Namely, the corner correction exponent is found to be negative. Such a negative exponent is in sharp contrast with the positivity condition of the Rényi entanglement entropy, which holds for unitary conformal field theories (CFTs). Our results unambiguously reveal fundamental differences between DQC and quantum critical points described by unitary CFTs.
We study the entanglement entropies in one-dimensional open critical systems, whose effective description is given by a conformal field theory with boundaries. We show that, for pure-state systems formed by the ground state or by the excited states associated to primary fields, the entanglement entropies have a finite-size behavior that depends on the correlation of the underlying field theory. The analytical results are checked numerically, finding excellent agreement for the quantum chains ruled by the theories with central charge c=1/2c=1/2c=1/2 and 1.
In this thesis I present the results I have been developing during my PhD studies at City University London. The original results are based on D Bianchini et al, D Bianchini, O Castro-Alvaredo and B Doyon, D Bianchini and F Ravanini, D Bianchini et al and D Bianchini and O Castro-Alvaredo. In all but one publications, we compute the entanglement of various systems. Using the celebrated “replica trick” we compute the entanglement entropy of non unitary systems using integrable tools in continuum and discrete models. In particular, in the first article we generalise the method described in the seventh article in order to take into account non unitary conformal systems. In the second article we use a form factor expansion to probe a non unitary system outside the critical point. In the fourth article we derive the explicit expressions of one dimensional quantum Hamiltonians which provide a lattice realisation of off critical non unitary minimal models. Using a Corner Transfer Matrix approach we compute the scaling of the entanglement of such spin chains. In the fifth article we study the scaling of various twist field correlation functions in order to compute the entanglement entropy and the logarithmic negativity in free boson massive theories.
We study the scaling of the Renyi entanglement entropy of two disjoint blocks of critical lattice models described by conformal field theories with central charge c=1. We provide the analytic conformal field theory result for the second order Renyi entropy for a free boson compactified on an orbifold describing the scaling limit of the Ashkin-Teller (AT) model on the self-dual line. We have checked this prediction in cluster Monte Carlo simulations of the classical two dimensional AT model. We have also performed extensive numerical simulations of the anisotropic Heisenberg quantum spin-chain with tree-tensor network techniques that allowed to obtain the reduced density matrices of disjoint blocks of the spin-chain and to check the correctness of the predictions for Renyi and entanglement entropies from conformal field theory. In order to match these predictions, we have extrapolated the numerical results by properly taking into account the corrections induced by the finite length of the blocks to the leading scaling behavior.