We study a proper definition of Rényi mutual information (RMI) in quantum field theory as defined via the Petz Rényi relative entropy. Unlike the standard definition, the RMI we compute is a genuine measure of correlations between subsystems, as evidenced by its non-negativity and monotonicity under local operations. Furthermore, the RMI is UV finite and well defined in the continuum limit. We develop a replica path integral approach for the RMI in quantum field theories and evaluate it explicitly in 1+1D conformal field theory using twist fields. We prove that it bounds connected correlation functions and check our results against exact numerics in the massless free fermion theory.
We study a proper definition of Rényi mutual information (RMI) in quantum field theory as defined via the Petz Rényi relative entropy. Unlike the standard definition, the RMI we compute is a genuine measure of correlations between subsystems, as evidenced by its non-negativity and monotonicity under local operations. Furthermore, the RMI is UV finite and well defined in the continuum limit. We develop a replica path integral approach for the RMI in quantum field theories and evaluate it explicitly in 1+1D conformal field theory using twist fields. We prove that it bounds connected correlation functions and check our results against exact numerics in the massless free fermion theory.
A bstract We explore a large class of correlation measures called the α − z Rényi mutual informations (RMIs). Unlike the commonly used notion of RMI involving linear combinations of Rényi entropies, the α − z RMIs are positive semi-definite and monotonically decreasing under local quantum operations, making them sensible measures of total (quantum and classical) correlations. This follows from their descendance from Rényi relative entropies. In addition to upper bounding connected correlation functions between subsystems, we prove the much stronger statement that for certain values of α and z , the α − z RMIs also lower bound certain connected correlation functions. We develop an easily implementable replica trick which enables us to compute the α − z RMIs in a variety of many-body systems including conformal field theories, free fermions, random tensor networks, and holography.
Relative entropy is a measure of distinguishability for quantum states, and it plays a central role in quantum information theory. The family of Renyi entropies generalizes to Renyi relative entropies that include, as special cases, most entropy measures used in quantum information theory. We construct a Euclidean path-integral approach to Renyi relative entropies in conformal field theory, then compute the fidelity and the relative entropy of states in one spatial dimension at zero and finite temperature using a replica trick. In contrast to the entanglement entropy, the relative entropy is free of ultraviolet divergences, and is obtained as a limit of certain correlation functions. The relative entropy of two states provides an upper bound on their trace distance.
I study the mutual information between spatial subsystems in a variety of scale invariant quantum field theories. While it is derived from the bare entanglement entropy, the mutual information offers a more refined probe of the entanglement structure of quantum field theories because it remains finite in the continuum limit. I argue that the mutual information has certain universal singularities that are a manifestation of the idea of "entanglement per scale". Moreover, I propose a method, based on an ansatz for higher dimensional twist operators, to compute the entanglement entropy, Renyi entropy, and mutual information in a general quantum field theory. The relevance of these results to the search for renormalization group monotones, to holographic duality, and to entanglement based simulation methods for many body systems are all discussed.
Quantum mutual information is an important tool for characterizing correlations in quantum many-body systems, but its numerical evaluation is often prohibitively expensive. While some variants of Rényi Mutual Information (RMI) are computationally more tractable, it is not clear whether they correctly capture the long-wavelength physics or are dominated by UV effects, which is of key importance in lattice simulations. We analyze the relevance of lattice effects on the family of α-z Rényi mutual informations for ground states of models with conformal field theory descriptions. On the example of massless free fermions we identify distinct regions in the α-z plane, where RMI corrections due to the lattice are relevant or irrelevant. We further support these findings with MPS calculations on the transverse field Ising model (TFIM). Our results, accompanied by the open-source Julia package QMICalc.jl, provide guidance to using RMI in quantum-many body physics numerical computations.
Abstract We study different aspects of quantum field theory at finite density using methods from quantum information theory. For simplicity we focus on massive Dirac fermions with nonzero chemical potential, and work in 1 + 1 space-time dimensions. Using the entanglement entropy on an interval, we construct an entropic c-function that is finite. Unlike what happens in Lorentz-invariant theories, this c-function exhibits a strong violation of monotonicity; it also encodes the creation of long-range entanglement from the Fermi surface. Motivated by previous works on lattice models, we next calculate numerically the Renyi entropies and find Friedel-type oscillations; these are understood in terms of a defect operator product expansion. Furthermore, we consider the mutual information as a measure of correlation functions between different regions. Using a long-distance expansion previously developed by Cardy, we argue that the mutual information detects Fermi surface correlations already at leading order in the expansion. We also analyze the relative entropy and its Renyi generalizations in order to distinguish states with different charge and/or mass. In particular, we show that states in different superselection sectors give rise to a super-extensive behavior in the relative entropy. Finally, we discuss possible extensions to interacting theories, and argue for the relevance of some of these measures for probing non-Fermi liquids.
Quantum R\'enyi relative entropies play a significant part in characterizing operational tasks in quantum information theory. In this paper, we first give some fundamental properties of the zero-relative entropy, and we find that the geometric R\'enyi relative entropy reduces to the zero-relative entropy in the limit case. Then, we define a new mutual information via the zero-relative entropy, and it is the so-called zero-mutual information. In particular, the zero-mutual information is a lower bound of the Petz-R\'enyi and geometric generalized mutual information. We establish the chain rules for the unsmoothed and smoothed versions of the zero-mutual information. As an application, we discuss generalized mutual information with the Petz-R\'enyi, sandwiched R\'enyi, and geometric R\'enyi types, our result gives a uniform chain rule inequality for quantum generalized mutual information.