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arXiv:2010.05574 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Entanglement entropy: non-Gaussian states and strong coupling

José J. Fernández-Melgarejo, Javier Molina-Vilaplana

Published Feb 1, 2021• 9 citations
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Abstract

Abstract In this work we provide a method to study the entanglement entropy for non-Gaussian states that minimize the energy functional of interacting quantum field theories at arbitrary coupling. To this end, we build a class of non-Gaussian variational trial wavefunctionals with the help of exact nonlinear canonical transformations. The calculability bonanza shown by these variational ansatze allows us to compute the entanglement entropy using the prescription for the ground state of free theories. In free theories, the entanglement entropy is determined by the two-point correlation functions. For the interacting case, we show that these two-point correlators can be replaced by their nonperturbatively corrected counterparts. Upon giving some general formulae for general interacting models we calculate the entanglement entropy of half space and compact regions for the ϕ4 scalar field theory in 2D. Finally, we analyze the rôle played by higher order correlators in our results and show that strong subadditivity is satisfied.

DOI
10.1007/jhep02(2021)106

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Abstract In this work we provide a method to study the entanglement entropy for non-Gaussian states that minimize the energy functional of interacting quantum field theories at arbitrary coupling. To this end, we build a class of non-Gaussian variational trial wavefunctionals with the help of exact nonlinear canonical transformations. The calculability bonanza shown by these variational ansatze allows us to compute the entanglement entropy using the prescription for the ground state of free theories. In free theories, the entanglement entropy is determined by the two-point correlation functions. For the interacting case, we show that these two-point correlators can be replaced by their nonperturbatively corrected counterparts. Upon giving some general formulae for general interacting models we calculate the entanglement entropy of half space and compact regions for the ϕ4 scalar field theory in 2D. Finally, we analyze the rôle played by higher order correlators in our results and show that strong subadditivity is satisfied.
Abstract Entanglement entropy of quantum fields in gravitational settings is a topic of growing importance. This entropy of entanglement is conventionally computed relative to Cauchy hypersurfaces where it is possible via a partial tracing to associate a reduced density matrix to the spacelike region of interest. In recent years Sorkin has proposed an alternative, manifestly covariant, formulation of entropy in terms of the spacetime two-point correlation function. This formulation, developed for a Gaussian scalar field theory, is explicitly spacetime in nature and evades some of the possible non-covariance issues faced by the conventional formulation. In this paper we take the first steps towards extending Sorkin’s entropy to non-Gaussian theories where Wick’s theorem no longer holds and one would expect higher correlators to contribute. We consider quartic perturbations away from the Gaussian case and find that to first order in perturbation theory, the entropy formula derived by Sorkin continues to hold but with the two-point correlators replaced by their perturbation-corrected counterparts. We then show that our results continue to hold for arbitrary perturbations (of both bosonic and fermionic theories). This is a non-trivial and, to our knowledge, novel result. Furthermore we also derive closed-form formulas of the entanglement entropy for arbitrary perturbations at first and second order. Our work also suggests avenues for further extensions to generic interacting theories.
A general method to build the entanglement renormalization (cMERA) for interacting quantum field theories is presented. We improve upon the well-known Gaussian formalism used in free theories through a class of variational non-Gaussian wave functionals for which expectation values of local operators can be efficiently calculated analytically and in a closed form. The method consists of a series of scale-dependent nonlinear canonical transformations on the fields of the theory under consideration. Here, the $\ensuremath{\lambda}{\ensuremath{\phi}}^{4}$ and the sine-Gordon scalar theories are used to illustrate how nonperturbative effects far beyond the Gaussian approximation are obtained by considering the energy functional and the correlation functions of the theory.
This is an extended version of the previous paper [S. Iso et al., Phys. Rev. D 103, 105010 (2021)] to study entanglement entropy (EE) of a half space in interacting field theories. In the previous paper, we have proposed a novel method to calculate EE based on the notion of ZM{\mathbb{Z}}_{M}ZM​ gauge theory on Feynman diagrams, and shown that EE consists of two particular contributions, one from a renormalized two-point correlation function in the two-particle irreducible (2PI) formalism and another from interaction vertices. In this paper, we further investigate them in more general field theories and show that the non-Gaussian contributions from vertices can be interpreted as renormalized correlation functions of composite operators.
Understanding the dependence of entanglement entropy on the renormalized mass in quantum field theories can provide insight into phenomena such as quantum phase transitions, since the mass varies in a singular way near the transition. Here we perturbatively calculate the entanglement entropy in interacting scalar field theory, focusing on the dependence on the field’s mass. We study λϕ 4 and g ϕ 3 theories in their ground state. By tracing over a half space, using the replica trick and position space Green’s functions on the cone, we show that spacetime volume divergences cancel and renormalization can be consistently performed in this conical geometry. We establish finite contributions to the entanglement entropy up to two-loop order, involving a finite area law. The resulting entropy is simple and intuitive: the free theory result in d = 3 (that we included in an earlier publication) Δ S ∼ A m 2 ln ( m 2 ) is altered, to leading order, by replacing the bare mass m by the renormalized mass m r evaluated at the renormalization scale of zero momentum.
The holographic Ryu-Takayanagi formula for entanglement entropy connects the entanglement of a field theory to the geometry of a dual gravitational theory in a straightforward and universal way. The first part of this thesis applies this formula to study the entanglement entropy in strongly coupled noncommutative field theories. It is found that the ground state of these theories have substantial entanglement at the length scale of the noncommutativity. The entanglement entropy in a different perturbative regime is also computed, where in contrast it is found that noncommutative interactions do not induce long range entanglement in the ground state to leading order in perturbations theory. The second part of this thesis explores some general consequences of this holographic formula for the entanglement entropy. Identities involving entanglement entropies are related to nontrivial geometric constraints on gravitational duals. In particular, the strong subadditivity of entanglement entropy is used to show that dual three dimensional asymptotically anti-de Sitter gravitational states must obey an averaged null energy condition. Finally, this holographic formula allows us at least in principle to express the entanglement entropy of a region in a holographic field theory in terms of the one-point functions in that theory. This is explored in the context of a two dimensional conformal field theory where explicit calculations are possible. Our results in this case allow us to extend a recent proposal that the entanglement entropy of states near the vacuum of conformal theories can be understood by propagation in an auxiliary de Sitter space.
Abstract In this work, a non-Gaussian cMERA tensor network for interacting quantum field theories (icMERA) is presented. This consists of a continuous tensor network circuit in which the generator of the entanglement renormalization of the wavefunction is nonperturbatively extended with nonquadratic variational terms. The icMERA circuit nonperturbatively implements a set of scale dependent nonlinear transformations on the fields of the theory, which suppose a generalization of the scale dependent linear transformations induced by the Gaussian cMERA circuit. Here we present these transformations for the case of self-interacting scalar and fermionic field theories. Finally, the icMERA tensor network is fully optimized for the λϕ4 theory in (1 + 1) dimensions. This allows us to evaluate, nonperturbatively, the connected parts of the two- and four-point correlation functions. Our results show that icMERA wavefunctionals encode proper non-Gaussian correlations of the theory, thus providing a new variational tool to study phenomena related with strongly interacting field theories.