We study patterns of quantum entanglement in systems of spins and ghost-spins regarding them as simple quantum mechanical toy models for theories containing negative norm states. We define a single ghost-spin as in [20] as a 2-state spin variable with an indefinite inner product in the state space. We find that whenever the spin sector is disentangled from the ghost-spin sector (both of which could be entangled within themselves), the reduced density matrix obtained by tracing over all the ghost-spins gives rise to positive entanglement entropy for positive norm states, while negative norm states have an entanglement entropy with a negative real part and a constant imaginary part. However when the spins are entangled with the ghost-spins, there are new entanglement patterns in general. For systems where the number of ghost-spins is even, it is possible to find subsectors of the Hilbert space where positive norm states always lead to positive entanglement entropy after tracing over the ghost-spins. With an odd number of ghost-spins however, we find that there always exist positive norm states with negative real part for entanglement entropy after tracing over the ghost-spins.
We study patterns of quantum entanglement in systems of spins and ghost-spins regarding them as simple quantum mechanical toy models for theories containing negative norm states. We define a single ghost-spin as in [20] as a 2-state spin variable with an indefinite inner product in the state space. We find that whenever the spin sector is disentangled from the ghost-spin sector (both of which could be entangled within themselves), the reduced density matrix obtained by tracing over all the ghost-spins gives rise to positive entanglement entropy for positive norm states, while negative norm states have an entanglement entropy with a negative real part and a constant imaginary part. However when the spins are entangled with the ghost-spins, there are new entanglement patterns in general. For systems where the number of ghost-spins is even, it is possible to find subsectors of the Hilbert space where positive norm states always lead to positive entanglement entropy after tracing over the ghost-spins. With an odd number of ghost-spins however, we find that there always exist positive norm states with negative real part for entanglement entropy after tracing over the ghost-spins.
Ghost spins, 2-level spinlike variables with indefinite norm have been studied in previous work. Here we explore various N-level generalizations of ghost spins. First we discuss a flavored generalization comprising N copies of the ghost-spin system, as well as certain ghost-spin chains which in the continuum limit lead to 2-dim bc-ghost conformal field theorys with O(N) flavor symmetry. Then we explore a symplectic generalization that involves antisymmetric inner products, and finally a ghost-spin system exhibiting N irreducible levels. We also study entanglement properties. In all these cases, we show the existence of positive norm ``correlated ghost spin'' states in two copies of ghost-spin ensembles obtained by entangling identical ghost spins from each copy: these exhibit positive entanglement entropy.
In arXiv [K. Narayan, arXiv:1501.03019.], the areas of certain complex extremal surfaces in de Sitter space were found to have resemblance with entanglement entropy in appropriate dual Euclidean nonunitary CFTs, with the area being real and negative in dS4. In this paper, we study some toy models of 2-dim ghost conformal field theories with negative central charge with a view to exploring this further from the CFT point of view. In particular we consider bc-ghost systems with central charge $c=\ensuremath{-}2$ and study the replica formulation for entanglement entropy for a single interval, and associated issues arising in this case, notably pertaining to (i) the SL(2) vacuum coinciding with the ghost ground state, and (ii) the background charge inherent in these systems which leads to particular forms for the norms of states (involving zero modes). This eventually gives rise to negative entanglement entropy. We also discuss a (logarithmic) CFT of anticommuting scalars, with similarities in some features. Finally we discuss a simple toy model of two ``ghost-spins'' which mimics some of these features.
We study one-dimensional chains of ghost-spins with nearest neighbor interactions amongst them, developing further the study of ghost-spins in previous work, defined as 2-state spin variables with indefinite norm. First we study finite ghost-spin chains with Ising-like nearest neighbor interactions: this helps organize and clarify the study of entanglement earlier, and we develop this further. Then we study a family of infinite ghost-spin chains with a different Hamiltonian containing nearest neighbor hopping-type interactions. By defining fermionic ghost-spin variables through a Jordan-Wigner transformation, we argue that these ghost-spin chains lead in the continuum limit to the bc-ghost conformal field theories.
Pseudo entropy extends entanglement entropy from a single quantum state to a pair of nonorthogonal states and is generally complex. Taking advantage of Cauchy-Riemann equations, Kramers-Kronig relations, and analytic continuation in state parameters, we show how and to what extent real and imaginary parts of pseudo entropy can be derived from ordinary entanglement entropy. For families with holomorphic coefficients in finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, the reduced transition matrix equals the ordinary reduced density matrix formula evaluated at complex parameters. Then a convergent Taylor series gives the real and imaginary parts of pseudo entropy from even and odd derivatives of entanglement entropy at the real midpoint. The matrix identity also gives formulae for excess pseudo entropy and Renyi entropies, and interpolation formulae for families with polynomial coefficients. We apply these results to boundary-state quenches and thermal states in conformal field theory, and to fermionic and bosonic Gaussian states and quenches. In conformal field theory, Kramers-Kronig relations give the first moment of the imaginary part in terms of the central charge and one-point functions for boundary states.
One of the most important predictions of quantum mechanics is the existence of quantum entanglement. Since the inception of quantum theory, the study of entanglement has become ubiquitous in several branches of physics, from high energy to condensed matter physics and quantum information. To this avail, different measures of entanglement in quantum systems have been introduced. The most successful ones are the von Neumann and the Rényi entanglement entropies, which have been heavily studied both in lattice models and in quantum field theories (QFTs). A different, more complete characterization of entanglement is provided by the entanglement (or modular) Hamiltonian, defined as the logarithm of the reduced density matrix. One of the key property of this operator is that, under generic conditions, in 1+1-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs) presents a local and few-body structure. Beyond just being of theoretical interest, this property has been recently used to efficiently construct the ground state of spin chains in quantum simulators. A recently introduced generalisation of the entanglement Hamiltonian is the negativity Hamiltonian, a non-Hermitian operator which is more useful for mixed states and tripartite entanglement. In this thesis we study these quantifications in many-body quantum systems and in QFTs. In the first part of the thesis, we focus on fermionic systems at equilibrium, and we obtain analytical expressions for the entanglement and the negativity Hamiltonians in the massless Dirac fermion QFT, both in presence of boundaries and at finite temperature. We compare these predictions in the continuum QFT with numerical calculations on the lattice, showing that a proper comparison requires a non-trivial continuum limit of the lattice expression, which we detail. We also investigate a lattice realisation of a non-unitary CFT, the bc-ghost theory, showing that the entanglement Hamiltonian presents an additional term with respect to the unitary case. In the second part, we study the entanglement entropies in an integrable QFT, the massless renormalisation group flow from the tricritical to the critical Ising CFT, demonstrating that the entropy is monotonically decreasing under the renormalisation group flow, as expected from the entropic c-theorem. In the third part we consider out-of-equilibrium problems. We study the melting of a domain wall configuration, computing analytically the entanglement Hamiltonian and showing that the insertion of a defect dramatically modifies the entanglement properties, changing the growth of the entropies from logarithmic to linear in time. Finally, we study generic quantum quenches in free fermionic theories, using the celebrated quasiparticle picture to obtain a prediction for the evolution of the entanglement Hamiltonian during the quench.
Abstract We consider a quantum entangled state for two particles, each particle having two basis states, which includes an entangled pair of spin 1/2 particles. We show that, for any quantum entangled state vectors of such systems, one can always find a pair of observable operators X,Y with zero correlations (⟨ψ∣XY∣ψ⟩−⟨ψ∣X∣ψ⟩⟨ψ∣Y∣ψ⟩=0). At the same time, if we consider the analogous classical system of a “classically entangled” (statistically non-independent) pair of random variables taking two values, one can never have zero correlations (zero covariance, E[XY]−E[X]E[Y]=0). We provide a general proof to illustrate the different nature of entanglements in classical and quantum theories.