We study the relative entanglement entropies of one interval between excited states of a 1+1 dimensional conformal field theory (CFT). To compute the relative entropy S(ρ 1∥ρ 0) between two given reduced density matrices ρ 1 and ρ 0 of a quantum field theory, we employ the replica trick which relies on the path integral representation of Tr(ρ 1 ρ 0 − 1 ) and define a set of Rényi relative entropies S n (ρ 1∥ρ 0). We compute these quantities for integer values of the parameter n and derive via the replica limit the relative entropy between excited states generated by primary fields of a free massless bosonic field. In particular, we provide the relative entanglement entropy of the state described by the primary operator i∂ϕ, both with respect to the ground state and to the state generated by chiral vertex operators. These predictions are tested against exact numerical calculations in the XX spin-chain finding perfect agreement.
In a quantum critical chain, the scaling regime of the energy and momentum of the ground state and low-lying excitations are described by conformal field theory (CFT). The same holds true for the von Neumann and Rényi entropies of the ground state, which display a universal logarithmic behavior depending on the central charge. In this Letter we generalize this result to those excited states of the chain that correspond to primary fields in CFT. It is shown that the nth Rényi entropy is related to a 2n-point correlator of primary fields. We verify this statement for the critical XX and XXZ chains. This result uncovers a new link between quantum information theory and CFT.
Rényi and von Neumann entropies quantifying the amount of entanglement in ground states of critical spin chains are known to satisfy a universal law which is given by the conformal field theory (CFT) describing their scaling regime. This law can be generalized to excitations described by primary fields in CFT, as was done by Alcaraz et al in 2011 (see reference [1], of which this work is a completion). An alternative derivation is presented, together with numerical verifications of our results in different models belonging to the c = 1, 1/2 universality classes. Oscillations of the Rényi entropy in excited states are also discussed.
Abstract We discuss the Renyi entanglement entropies of descendant states in critical one-dimensional systems with boundaries, that map to boundary conformal field theories in the scaling limit. We unify the previous conformal-field-theory approaches to describe primary and descendant states in systems with both open and closed boundaries. We provide universal expressions for the first two descendants in the identity family. We apply our technique to critical systems belonging to different universality classes with non-trivial boundary conditions that preserve conformal invariance, and find excellent agreement with numerical results obtained for finite spin chains. We also demonstrate that entanglement entropies are a powerful tool to resolve degeneracy of higher excited states in critical lattice models.
The half-chain entanglement entropy (EE) of the one-dimensional
XX (isotropic
XY) chain and quantum Ising chain (QIC) at the critical point are calculated numerically for large lattices. The periodic, free-free, fixed-fixed (
++) and ($+\ensuremath{-}$), and fixed-free boundary conditions (BCs) are studied. The models are transformed into a fermion system with a Jordan-Wigner transformation. The correlation functions of these fermions are obtained numerically. With the correlation functions, the entanglement entropy is obtained. The numerical calculation is performed with quadruple precision. The numerical results agree with the exact relationship with an accuracy of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}28}$ between the EEs of the
XX chain and QICs: (1) the EE of the
XX chain with periodic BCs is the sum of two QICs with periodic BCs; (2) the EE of the
XX chain with free-free BCs is the sum of two QICs with free-free BCs; (3) the EE of the
XX chain with fixed-free BCs is the sum of the EE of a QIC with fixed-free BCs and that with free-free BCs; (4) the EE of the
XX chain with fixed-fixed (
++) BCs is the sum of the EE of a QIC with fixed-fixed (
++) BCs and that with free-free BCs; and (5) the EE of the
XX chain with fixed-fixed ($+\ensuremath{-}$) BCs is the sum of the EE of a QIC with fixed-fixed (
++) BCs and that of the first excited state of a QIC with free-free BCs. We fit the half-chain EE with finite-size scaling expansion of terms ${L}^{\ensuremath{-}n}$ and ${L}^{\ensuremath{-}n}lnL$, where
L is the length of the spin chain. We find that the fitted parameters for the leading term
lnL and the constant term are consistent with conformal field theory and that the exact solutions are highly accurate. The fitting accuracy is so high that the fitted central charge of the Ising model is $0.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}26}$ for the periodic boundary condition. From the higher-order corrections in the fitted expansion, we find that there exist ${L}^{\ensuremath{-}4}lnL$ and higher-order corrections for the fixed-fixed ($+\ensuremath{-}$) boundary conditions, whereas there exist ${L}^{\ensuremath{-}3}lnL$ and higher-order corrections for the fixed-free boundary conditions. These types of corrections mean corrections of the central charge.
We discuss the R´enyi entanglement entropies of descendant states in critical one- dimensional systems with boundaries, that map to boundary conformal field theories in the scaling limit. We unify the previous conformal-field-theory approaches to describe primary and descendant states in systems with both open and closed boundaries. We provide universal expressions for the first two descendants in the identity family. We apply our technique to critical systems belonging to different universality classes with non-trivial boundary conditions that preserve conformal invariance, and find excellent agreement with numerical results obtained for finite spin chains. We also demonstrate that entanglement entropies are a powerful tool to resolve degeneracy of higher excited states in critical lattice models.