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arXiv:2006.16271 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Entanglement entropy of fermions from Wigner functions: Excited states and open quantum systems

Saranyo Moitra, Rajdeep Sensarma

Published Nov 25, 2020• 12 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We formulate a new ``Wigner characteristics''-based method to calculate entanglement entropies of subsystems of Fermions using Keldysh field theory. This bypasses the requirements of working with complicated manifolds for calculating R\'enyi entropies for many-body systems. We provide an exact analytic formula for R\'enyi and von Neumann entanglement entropies of noninteracting open quantum systems, which are initialized in arbitrary Fock states. We use this formalism to look at entanglement entropies of momentum Fock states of one-dimensional Fermions. We show that the entanglement entropy of a Fock state can scale either logarithmically or linearly with subsystem size, depending on whether the number of discontinuities in the momentum distribution is smaller or larger than the subsystem size. We also use this formalism to describe entanglement dynamics of an open quantum system starting with a single domain wall at the center of the system. Using entanglement entropy and mutual information, we understand the dynamics in terms of coherent motion of the domain wall wavefronts, creation and annihilation of domain walls, and incoherent exchange of particles with the bath.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.102.184306

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We formulate a new ``Wigner characteristics''-based method to calculate entanglement entropies of subsystems of Fermions using Keldysh field theory. This bypasses the requirements of working with complicated manifolds for calculating R'enyi entropies for many-body systems. We provide an exact analytic formula for R'enyi and von Neumann entanglement entropies of noninteracting open quantum systems, which are initialized in arbitrary Fock states. We use this formalism to look at entanglement entropies of momentum Fock states of one-dimensional Fermions. We show that the entanglement entropy of a Fock state can scale either logarithmically or linearly with subsystem size, depending on whether the number of discontinuities in the momentum distribution is smaller or larger than the subsystem size. We also use this formalism to describe entanglement dynamics of an open quantum system starting with a single domain wall at the center of the system. Using entanglement entropy and mutual information, we understand the dynamics in terms of coherent motion of the domain wall wavefronts, creation and annihilation of domain walls, and incoherent exchange of particles with the bath.
We propose a new method of calculating entanglement entropy of a many-body interacting Bosonic system (open or closed) in a field theoretic approach without replica methods. The Wigner function and Renyi entropy of a Bosonic system undergoing arbitrary non-equilibrium dynamics can be obtained from its Wigner characteristic function, which we identify with the Schwinger Keldysh partition function in presence of quantum sources turned on at the time of measurement. For non-interacting many body systems, starting from arbitrary density matrices, we provide exact analytic formulae for Wigner function and entanglement entropy in terms of the single particle Green's functions. For interacting systems, we relate the Wigner characteristic to the connected multi-particle correlators of the system. We use this formalism to study the evolution of an open quantum system from a Fock state with negative Wigner function and zero entropy, to a thermal state with positive Wigner function and finite entropy. The evolution of the Renyi entropy is non-monotonic in time for both Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics. The entropy is also found to be anti-correlated with negativity of the Wigner function of a 222 -mode open quantum system.
The Rényi entanglement entropies of quasiparticle excitations in the many-body gapped systems show a remarkable universal picture which is independent of the model, the quasiparticle momenta, and the connectedness of the subsystem. In this letter we calculate exactly the single-interval and double-interval Rényi entanglement entropies of quasiparticle excitations in the many-body gapped fermions, bosons, and XY chains and find additional contributions to the universal Rényi entanglement entropy in the excited states with quasiparticles of different momenta. The additional terms are different in different models, depend on the momentum differences of the quasiparticles, and are different for the single interval and the double interval. We derive the analytical Rényi entanglement entropy in the extremely gapped limit, matching perfectly the numerical results as long as either the intrinsic correlation length of the model or all the de Broglie wavelengths of the quasiparticles are small. When the momentum difference of any pair of distinct quasiparticles is small, the additional terms are non-negligible. We argue that the derived formulas can be applied to a wider range of models than those discussed here.
The constituents of a quantum many-body system can be inextricably linked, a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Entanglement can be used as a resource for quantum computing, quantum communication and detecting phase transitions, among others. The amount of entanglement can be quantified via the von Neumann and Rényi entropies, which have their origins in information theory. In this work, the quantum entanglement between subsystems of a one dimen- sional lattice model of fermions is quantified. The von Neumann and Rényi entropies were calculated for two types of subsystems. In the first study, the subsystems were treated as two subsets of particles, and in the second, as two spatial subregions. Finally, by considering particle superselection rules, the amount of entanglement that can actually be accessed as a resource was calcu- lated. In all cases, the quantum entanglement served to detect phase transitions in the model.
Entanglement in a pure state of a many-body system can be characterized by the Rényi entropies S^{(\alpha)}=\ln\textrm{tr}(\rho^\alpha)/(1-\alpha) S ( α ) = ln tr ( ρ α ) / ( 1 − α ) of the reduced density matrix \rho ρ of a subsystem. These entropies are, however, difficult to access experimentally and can typically be determined for small systems only. Here we show that for free fermionic systems in a Gaussian state and with particle number conservation, S^{(2)} S ( 2 ) can be tightly bound—from above and below—by the much easier accessible Rényi number entropy S^{(2)}_N=-\ln \sum_n p^2(n) S N ( 2 ) = − ln ∑ n p 2 ( n ) which is a function of the probability distribution p(n) p ( n ) of the total particle number in the considered subsystem only. A dynamical growth in entanglement, in particular, is therefore always accompanied by a growth—albeit logarithmically slower—of the number entropy. We illustrate this relation by presenting numerical results for quenches in non-interacting one-dimensional lattice models including disorder-free, Anderson-localized, and critical systems with off-diagonal (bond) disorder.
Quantum entanglement, lacking any classical counterpart, provides a fundamental new route to characterize the quantum nature of many-body states. In this work, we discuss an implementation of a new path integral method [Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 033505 (2020)] for fermions to compute entanglement for extended subsystems in the Hubbard model within dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) in one and two dimensions. The new path integral formulation measures entanglement by applying a ``kick'' to the underlying interacting fermions. We show that the R\'enyi entanglement entropy can be extracted efficiently within the DMFT framework by integrating over the strength of the kick term. Using this method, we compute the second R\'enyi entropy as a function of subsystem size for metallic and Mott insulating phases of the Hubbard model. We explore the thermal entropy to entanglement crossover in the subsystem R\'enyi entropy in the correlated metallic phase. We show that the subsystem-size scaling of the second R\'enyi entropy is well described by the crossover formula which interpolates between the volume-law thermal R\'enyi entropy and the universal boundary-law R\'enyi entanglement entropy with logarithmic violation, as predicted by conformal field theory. We also study the mutual information across the Mott metal-insulator transition.
The subsystem-size dependence of ground-state entanglement entropy and its crossover to thermal entropy as a function of temperature are well understood for one-dimensional (1D) gapless systems described by conformal field theory (CFT), and for free fermions with a Fermi surface in any dimension. However, little is known about the entanglement entropy for gapless fermionic systems without quasi-particles, such as a strange metal. Here we study the entanglement entropy of fermions in a solvable large-NNN 1D lattice model akin to the Yukawa-Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (Yukawa SYK) model. In this model, two Fermi points are coupled to scalar bosons via spatially random Yukawa interactions, providing a solvable model of a strange metal when the bosons become critical at a quantum critical point. We exactly compute the second Rényi entropy of fermions in a spatial subregion in this model. Our results unravel crucial role of intra-subregion entanglement between fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom along with the inter-subregion entanglement in understanding the ground states of such strongly coupled fermion-boson systems. We show that the crossover from thermal entropy to entanglement entropy, is captured by a single scaling ansatz, that collapses the second Rényi entropy of fermions for different subregion sizes and temperatures into a single universal curve. We further show that the universal scaling curve for the critical strange metal is well described by the standard CFT formula, albeit with an effective central charge substantially larger than the non-interacting value.