Recent work has demonstrated the need to include contributions from entanglement islands when computing the entanglement entropy in quantum field theory states coupled to regions of semiclassical gravity. We propose a new formula for the reflected entropy that includes additional contributions from such islands. We derive this formula from the gravitational path integral by finding additional saddles that include generalized replica wormholes. We also demonstrate that our covariant formula satisfies all the inequalities required of the reflected entropy. We use this formula in various examples that demonstrate its relevance in illustrating the structure of multipartite entanglement that are invisible to the entropies.
Recent work has demonstrated the need to include contributions from entanglement islands when computing the entanglement entropy in quantum field theory states coupled to regions of semiclassical gravity. We propose a new formula for the reflected entropy that includes additional contributions from such islands. We derive this formula from the gravitational path integral by finding additional saddles that include generalized replica wormholes. We also demonstrate that our covariant formula satisfies all the inequalities required of the reflected entropy. We use this formula in various examples that demonstrate its relevance in illustrating the structure of multipartite entanglement that are invisible to the entropies.
We advance two alternative proposals for the island contributions to the entanglement negativity of various pure and mixed state configurations in quantum field theories coupled to semiclassical gravity. The first construction involves the extremization of an algebraic sum of the generalized Renyi entropies of order half. The second proposal involves the extremization of the sum of the effective entanglement negativity of quantum matter fields and the backreacted area of a cosmic brane spanning the entanglement wedge cross section which also extremizes the generalized Renyi reflected entropy of order half. These proposals are utilized to obtain the island contributions to the entanglement negativity of various pure and mixed state configurations involving the bath systems coupled to extremal and non-extremal black holes in JT gravity demonstrating an exact match with each other. Furthermore, the results from both the proposals match precisely with the island contribution to half the Renyi reflected entropy of order half providing a strong consistency check. We then allude to a possible doubly holographic picture of our island proposals and provide a derivation of the first proposal by determining the corresponding replica wormhole contributions.
Entanglement entropy, or von Neumann entropy, quantifies the amount of uncertainty of a quantum state. For quantum fields in curved space, entanglement entropy of the quantum field theory degrees of freedom is well-defined for a fixed background geometry. In this paper, we propose a generalization of the quantum field theory entanglement entropy by including dynamical gravity. The generalized quantity named effective entropy, and its Renyi entropy generalizations, are defined by analytic continuation of a replica calculation. The replicated theory is defined as a gravitational path integral with multiple copies of the original boundary conditions, with a co-dimension-2 brane at the boundary of region we are studying. We discuss different approaches to define the region in a gauge invariant way, and show that the effective entropy satisfies the quantum extremal surface formula. When the quantum fields carry a significant amount of entanglement, the quantum extremal surface can have a topology transition, after which an entanglement island region appears. Our result generalizes the Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi formula of holographic entropy (with quantum corrections) to general geometries without asymptotic AdS boundary, and provides a more solid framework for addressing problems such as the Page curve of evaporating black holes in asymptotic flat spacetime. We apply the formula to two example systems, a closed two-dimensional universe and a four-dimensional maximally extended Schwarzchild black hole. We discuss the analog of the effective entropy in random tensor network models, which provides more concrete understanding of quantum information properties in general dynamical geometries. We show that, in absence of a large boundary like in AdS space case, it is essential to introduce ancilla that couples to the original system, in order for correctly characterizing quantum states and correlation functions in the random tensor network. Using the superdensity operator formalism, we study the system with ancilla and show how quantum information in the entanglement island can be reconstructed in a state-dependent and observer-dependent map. We study the closed universe (without spatial boundary) case and discuss how it is related to open universe.
We provide a gravitational argument in favour of the covariant holographic entanglement entropy proposal. In general time-dependent states, the proposal asserts that the entanglement entropy of a region in the boundary field theory is given by a quarter of the area of a bulk extremal surface in Planck units. The main element of our discussion is an implementation of an appropriate Schwinger-Keldysh contour to obtain the reduced density matrix (and its powers) of a given region, as is relevant for the replica construction. We map this contour into the bulk gravitational theory, and argue that the saddle point solutions of these replica geometries lead to a consistent prescription for computing the field theory Rényi entropies. In the limiting case where the replica index is taken to unity, a local analysis suffices to show that these saddles lead to the extremal surfaces of interest. We also comment on various properties of holographic entanglement that follow from this construction.
We present a unified Lorentzian replica-path-integral framework for computing entanglement entropy in fully time-dependent quantum field theories and gravitational systems. Building on this framework, we apply the real-time replica trick to cosmological spacetimes without spatial boundaries and relate it to existing proposals that identify effective dual QFT descriptions on screen-like surfaces inside the spacetime. We also extend the Lorentzian replica construction to intrinsic gravitational subsystems, focusing on Hawking radiation and including quantum corrections in purely gravitational settings lacking time-reflection symmetry. In both contexts, island-type replica saddles arise naturally. A brief review of the QFT and holographic cases is included to establish the common structure underlying these applications.
Abstract Entanglement entropy, or von Neumann entropy, quantifies the amount of uncertainty of a quantum state. For quantum fields in curved space, entanglement entropy of the quantum field theory degrees of freedom is well-defined for a fixed background geometry. In this paper, we propose a generalization of the quantum field theory entanglement entropy by including dynamical gravity. The generalized quantity named effective entropy, and its Renyi entropy generalizations, are defined by analytic continuation of a replica calculation. The replicated theory is defined as a gravitational path integral with multiple copies of the original boundary conditions, with a co-dimension-2 brane at the boundary of region we are studying. We discuss different approaches to define the region in a gauge invariant way, and show that the effective entropy satisfies the quantum extremal surface formula. When the quantum fields carry a significant amount of entanglement, the quantum extremal surface can have a topology transition, after which an entanglement island region appears. Our result generalizes the Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi formula of holographic entropy (with quantum corrections) to general geometries without asymptotic AdS boundary, and provides a more solid framework for addressing problems such as the Page curve of evaporating black holes in asymptotic flat spacetime. We apply the formula to two example systems, a closed two-dimensional universe and a four-dimensional maximally extended Schwarzchild black hole. We discuss the analog of the effective entropy in random tensor network models, which provides more concrete understanding of quantum information properties in general dynamical geometries. We show that, in absence of a large boundary like in AdS space case, it is essential to introduce ancilla that couples to the original system, in order for correctly characterizing quantum states and correlation functions in the random tensor network. Using the superdensity operator formalism, we study the system with ancilla and show how quantum information in the entanglement island can be reconstructed in a state-dependent and observer-dependent map. We study the closed universe (without spatial boundary) case and discuss how it is related to open universe.
We provide a gravitational argument in favour of the covariant holographic entanglement entropy proposal. In general time-dependent states, the proposal asserts that the entanglement entropy of a region in the boundary field theory is given by a quarter of the area of a bulk extremal surface in Planck units. The main element of our discussion is an implementation of an appropriate Schwinger-Keldysh contour to obtain the reduced density matrix (and its powers) of a given region, as is relevant for the replica construction. We map this contour into the bulk gravitational theory, and argue that the saddle point solutions of these replica geometries lead to a consistent prescription for computing the field theory Rényi entropies. In the limiting case where the replica index is taken to unity, a local analysis suffices to show that these saddles lead to the extremal surfaces of interest. We also comment on various properties of holographic entanglement that follow from this construction.