Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2201.05035 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Entanglement entropy of (2+1) -dimensional quantum critical points with quenched disorder: Dimensional reduction approach

Qicheng Tang, W. Zhu

Published Nov 28, 2022• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A formidable perspective in understanding quantum criticality of a given many-body system is through its entanglement contents. Until now, most progress are only limited to the disorder-free case. Here, we develop an efficient scheme to compute the entanglement entropy of $(2+1)$-dimensional quantum critical points with randomness, from a conceptual angle where the quenched disorder can be considered as dimensionally reducible interactions. As a concrete example, we reveal novel entanglement signatures of $(2+1)$-dimensional Dirac fermion exposed to a random magnetic field, which hosts a class of emergent disordered quantum critical points. We demonstrate that the entanglement entropy satisfies the area-law scaling, and observe a modification of the area-law coefficient that points to the emergent disordered quantum criticality. Moreover, we also obtain the subleading correction to the entanglement entropy due to a finite correlation length. This subleading correction is found to be a universal function of the correlation length and disorder strength. We discuss its connection to the renormalization group flows of underlying theories.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.106.195152

Related papers

Scaling of entanglement entropy at quantum critical points in random spin chains

Prashant Kumar, R. N. Bhatt

We study the scaling properties of entanglement entropy (EE) near the quantum critical points in interacting random antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin chains. Using density-matrix renormalization group, we compute the half-chain EE near the topological phase transition between the Haldane and random singlet phases in a disordered spin-1 chain. It is found to diverge logarithmically in system size with an effective central charge ${c}_{\mathrm{eff}}=1.17(4)$ at the quantum critical point (QCP). Moreover, a scaling analysis of EE yields the correlation length exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}=2.28(5)$. Our unbiased calculation establishes that the QCP is in the universality class of the infinite-randomness fixed point predicted by previous studies based on the strong disorder renormalization group technique. However, in the disordered spin-1/2 Majumdar-Ghosh chain, where a valence bond solid phase is unstable to disorder, the crossover length exponent obtained from a scaling analysis of EE disagrees with the expectation based on the Imry-Ma argument. We provide a possible explanation.

arXiv:2307.00062•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Dec 15, 2023•2 citations

Quantum entanglement in the multicritical disordered Ising model

István A. Kovács

Quantum entanglement at critical points is often marked by universal characteristics. Here, the entanglement entropy is calculated at the quantum multicritical point of the random transverse-field Ising model (RTIM). We use an efficient implementation of the strong disorder renormalization group method in two and three dimensions for two types of disorder. For cubic subsystems we find a universal logarithmic corner contribution to the area law $bln(\ensuremath{\ell})$ that is independent of the form of disorder. Our results agree qualitatively with those at the quantum critical points of the RTIM, but with new $b$ prefactors due to having both geometric and quantum fluctuations at play. By studying the vicinity of the multicritical point, we demonstrate that the corner contribution serves as an ``entanglement susceptibility,'' a useful tool to locate the phase transition and to measure the correlation length critical exponents.

arXiv:2404.12990•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jun 6, 2024•2 citations

Boundary renormalization group flow of entanglement entropy at a ( 2 + 1 )-dimensional quantum critical point

Zhiyan Wang, Zhe Wang, Yi-Ming Ding +3 more

We investigate the second-order Rényi entanglement entropy at the quantum critical point of a spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a columnar dimerized square lattice. The universal constant $γ$ in the area-law scaling $S_{2}(\ell) = α\ell - γ$ is found to be sensitive to the entangling surface configurations, with $γ_{\text{sp}} > 0$ for strong-bond-cut (special) surfaces and $γ_{\text{ord}} < 0$ for weak-bond-cut (ordinary) surfaces, which is attributed to the distinct conformal boundary conditions. Introducing boundary dimerization drives a renormalization group (RG) flow from the special to the ordinary boundary criticality, and the constant $γ$ decreases monotonically with increasing dimerization strength, demonstrating irreversible evolution under the boundary RG flow. These results provide numerical evidence for a higher-dimensional analog of the $g$ theorem, and suggest $γ$ as a possible characteristic function for boundary RG flow in $(2+1)$-dimensional conformal field theory.

arXiv:2509.02044•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Mar 12, 2026•1 citation

Entanglement Entropy in the O(N) Model

Ossama Algayal

Entanglement is a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics and plays an important role in characterizing many-body systems and quantum phase transitions. A quantitative measure of quantum correlations between subsystems is entanglement entropy. In this thesis, we study the entanglement entropy of an interacting quantum field theory, the O(N) model. In local quantum field theories, the leading-order contribution in the scaling of entanglement entropy obeys an area law. This dominant term is governed by short-distance physics near the entangling surface and depends on the ultraviolet regularization, making it non-universal. Beyond this lead- ing scaling behavior, entanglement entropy can contain subleading universal contributions, which encode intrinsic information about the underlying quantum field theory. In this thesis, we calculate one such universal term: the correlation length coefficient r, which appears as a correction to the entanglement entropy evaluated slightly away from the quantum critical point. The analysis is carried out in D = 2 + 1 spacetime dimensions for an infinite cylindrical geometry. We study the model in the vicinity of criticality using the large-N expansion, which enables controlled analytical calculations. Our main result is that the coefficient r scales linearly with the number of field components N . This behavior is consistent with the interpretation of r as a universal quantity associated with the degrees of freedom of the theory. The calculation is based on the replica method and renormalization group arguments, which are presented in detail. Finally, we discuss the physical meaning of the result and possible methods for verifying it, and we review related results for the O(N) model in different geometries.

Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja•May 5, 2026•0 citations

Entanglement signatures of a percolating quantum system

Subrata Pachhal, Adhip Agarwala

Entanglement measures have emerged as one of the versatile probes to diagnose quantum phases and their transitions. Universal features in them expand their applicability to a range of systems, including those with quenched disorder. In this Letter, we show that when the underlying lattice has percolation disorder, free fermions at a finite density show interesting entanglement properties due to massively degenerate ground states. We define and calculate appropriate entanglement measures such as typical, annealed, and quenched entanglement entropy in both one and two dimensions, showing they can capture both geometrical aspects and electronic correlations of the percolated quantum system. In particular, while typical and annealed entanglements show a volume law character directly dependent on the number of zero modes in the system, quenched entanglement is generally an area law albeit showing characteristic signatures of the classical percolation transition. Our work presents an exotic interplay between the geometrical properties of a lattice and quantum entanglement in a many-body quantum system.

arXiv:2403.15541•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jul 9, 2024•0 citations

Holographic approach to entanglement entropy in disordered systems

Rajesh Narayanan, Chanyong Park B, Yun‐Long Zhang

We investigate the entanglement entropy of a two-dimensional disordered system holographically. In particular, we study the evolution of the entanglement entropy along renormalization group flows for a conformal theory at the UV fixed point, that is perturbed by weak disorder into a Lifshitz theory at the IR fixed point. Through numerical fitting, we find that the disorder correlations lead to a subleading power-law term in the entanglement entropy that vanishes at the IR fixed point. Interestingly, the exponent that controls the power-law vanishing of the subleading term seems to be almost universal as it depends very weakly on the strength of the disorder. We show that our results can be put in the context of the c-theorem by defining an effective central charge that decreases along the RG flow. We also investigate disorder induced long-range correlations between the two subsystems by studying the holographic mutual information.

arXiv:1803.01064•Physical review. D/Physical review. D.•Feb 27, 2019•10 citations
A formidable perspective in understanding quantum criticality of a given many-body system is through its entanglement contents. Until now, most progress are only limited to the disorder-free case. Here, we develop an efficient scheme to compute the entanglement entropy of (2+1)(2+1)(2+1)-dimensional quantum critical points with randomness, from a conceptual angle where the quenched disorder can be considered as dimensionally reducible interactions. As a concrete example, we reveal novel entanglement signatures of (2+1)(2+1)(2+1)-dimensional Dirac fermion exposed to a random magnetic field, which hosts a class of emergent disordered quantum critical points. We demonstrate that the entanglement entropy satisfies the area-law scaling, and observe a modification of the area-law coefficient that points to the emergent disordered quantum criticality. Moreover, we also obtain the subleading correction to the entanglement entropy due to a finite correlation length. This subleading correction is found to be a universal function of the correlation length and disorder strength. We discuss its connection to the renormalization group flows of underlying theories.
We study the scaling properties of entanglement entropy (EE) near the quantum critical points in interacting random antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin chains. Using density-matrix renormalization group, we compute the half-chain EE near the topological phase transition between the Haldane and random singlet phases in a disordered spin-1 chain. It is found to diverge logarithmically in system size with an effective central charge ceff=1.17(4){c}_{\mathrm{eff}}=1.17(4)ceff​=1.17(4) at the quantum critical point (QCP). Moreover, a scaling analysis of EE yields the correlation length exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}=2.28(5)$. Our unbiased calculation establishes that the QCP is in the universality class of the infinite-randomness fixed point predicted by previous studies based on the strong disorder renormalization group technique. However, in the disordered spin-1/2 Majumdar-Ghosh chain, where a valence bond solid phase is unstable to disorder, the crossover length exponent obtained from a scaling analysis of EE disagrees with the expectation based on the Imry-Ma argument. We provide a possible explanation.
Quantum entanglement at critical points is often marked by universal characteristics. Here, the entanglement entropy is calculated at the quantum multicritical point of the random transverse-field Ising model (RTIM). We use an efficient implementation of the strong disorder renormalization group method in two and three dimensions for two types of disorder. For cubic subsystems we find a universal logarithmic corner contribution to the area law $bln(\ensuremath{\ell})$ that is independent of the form of disorder. Our results agree qualitatively with those at the quantum critical points of the RTIM, but with new bbb prefactors due to having both geometric and quantum fluctuations at play. By studying the vicinity of the multicritical point, we demonstrate that the corner contribution serves as an ``entanglement susceptibility,'' a useful tool to locate the phase transition and to measure the correlation length critical exponents.
We investigate the second-order Rényi entanglement entropy at the quantum critical point of a spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a columnar dimerized square lattice. The universal constant γγγ in the area-law scaling S2(ℓ)=αℓ−γS_{2}(\ell) = α\ell - γS2​(ℓ)=αℓ−γ is found to be sensitive to the entangling surface configurations, with γsp>0γ_{\text{sp}} > 0γsp​>0 for strong-bond-cut (special) surfaces and γord<0γ_{\text{ord}} < 0γord​<0 for weak-bond-cut (ordinary) surfaces, which is attributed to the distinct conformal boundary conditions. Introducing boundary dimerization drives a renormalization group (RG) flow from the special to the ordinary boundary criticality, and the constant γγγ decreases monotonically with increasing dimerization strength, demonstrating irreversible evolution under the boundary RG flow. These results provide numerical evidence for a higher-dimensional analog of the ggg theorem, and suggest γγγ as a possible characteristic function for boundary RG flow in (2+1)(2+1)(2+1)-dimensional conformal field theory.
Entanglement is a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics and plays an important role in characterizing many-body systems and quantum phase transitions. A quantitative measure of quantum correlations between subsystems is entanglement entropy. In this thesis, we study the entanglement entropy of an interacting quantum field theory, the O(N) model. In local quantum field theories, the leading-order contribution in the scaling of entanglement entropy obeys an area law. This dominant term is governed by short-distance physics near the entangling surface and depends on the ultraviolet regularization, making it non-universal. Beyond this lead- ing scaling behavior, entanglement entropy can contain subleading universal contributions, which encode intrinsic information about the underlying quantum field theory. In this thesis, we calculate one such universal term: the correlation length coefficient r, which appears as a correction to the entanglement entropy evaluated slightly away from the quantum critical point. The analysis is carried out in D = 2 + 1 spacetime dimensions for an infinite cylindrical geometry. We study the model in the vicinity of criticality using the large-N expansion, which enables controlled analytical calculations. Our main result is that the coefficient r scales linearly with the number of field components N . This behavior is consistent with the interpretation of r as a universal quantity associated with the degrees of freedom of the theory. The calculation is based on the replica method and renormalization group arguments, which are presented in detail. Finally, we discuss the physical meaning of the result and possible methods for verifying it, and we review related results for the O(N) model in different geometries.
Entanglement measures have emerged as one of the versatile probes to diagnose quantum phases and their transitions. Universal features in them expand their applicability to a range of systems, including those with quenched disorder. In this Letter, we show that when the underlying lattice has percolation disorder, free fermions at a finite density show interesting entanglement properties due to massively degenerate ground states. We define and calculate appropriate entanglement measures such as typical, annealed, and quenched entanglement entropy in both one and two dimensions, showing they can capture both geometrical aspects and electronic correlations of the percolated quantum system. In particular, while typical and annealed entanglements show a volume law character directly dependent on the number of zero modes in the system, quenched entanglement is generally an area law albeit showing characteristic signatures of the classical percolation transition. Our work presents an exotic interplay between the geometrical properties of a lattice and quantum entanglement in a many-body quantum system.
We investigate the entanglement entropy of a two-dimensional disordered system holographically. In particular, we study the evolution of the entanglement entropy along renormalization group flows for a conformal theory at the UV fixed point, that is perturbed by weak disorder into a Lifshitz theory at the IR fixed point. Through numerical fitting, we find that the disorder correlations lead to a subleading power-law term in the entanglement entropy that vanishes at the IR fixed point. Interestingly, the exponent that controls the power-law vanishing of the subleading term seems to be almost universal as it depends very weakly on the strength of the disorder. We show that our results can be put in the context of the c-theorem by defining an effective central charge that decreases along the RG flow. We also investigate disorder induced long-range correlations between the two subsystems by studying the holographic mutual information.