A large class of strongly correlated quantum systems can be described in certain large-N limits by quadratic in field actions along with self-consistency equations that determine the two-point functions. We use the replica approach and the notion of shifted Matsubara frequency to compute von Neumann and R\'enyi entanglement entropies for generic bipartitioning of such systems. We argue that the von Neumann entropy can be computed from equilibrium spectral functions without partitioning, while the R\'enyi entropy requires recalculating the spectrum in the interacting case. We demonstrate the flexibility of the method by applying it to examples of a two-site problem in presence of decoherence and coupled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models.
A large class of strongly correlated quantum systems can be described in certain large-N limits by quadratic in field actions along with self-consistency equations that determine the two-point functions. We use the replica approach and the notion of shifted Matsubara frequency to compute von Neumann and R'enyi entanglement entropies for generic bipartitioning of such systems. We argue that the von Neumann entropy can be computed from equilibrium spectral functions without partitioning, while the R'enyi entropy requires recalculating the spectrum in the interacting case. We demonstrate the flexibility of the method by applying it to examples of a two-site problem in presence of decoherence and coupled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models.
We show that odd order Rényi entropies S(2q+1) of a system of interacting scalar fields can be calculated as the free energy of 2q+1 replicas of the system with additional quadratic inter-replica couplings in the subsystem at the time of measurement of the entropy. These couplings replace boundary field matching conditions. This formalism works both in and out of thermal equilibrium, for closed as well as open quantum systems, and provides a general dictionary between measurable correlation functions and entanglement entropy. S(2q+1) can be analytically continued to calculate the von Neumann entropy SvN. We provide an exact formula relating S(2q+1) and SvN with correlation functions in a non-interacting theory. For interacting theories, we provide rules for constructing all possible Feynman diagrams for S(2q+1). We show that the boundary matching conditions cannot be completely eliminated while calculating Rényi entropies of even order due to presence of zero modes in replica space.
In this paper we develop a new approach to the investigation of the bi-partite entanglement entropy in integrable quantum spin chains. Our method employs the well-known replica trick, thus taking a replica version of the spin chain model as starting point. At each site i of this new model we construct an operator which acts as a cyclic permutation among the n replicas of the model. Infinite products of give rise to local operators, precursors of branch-point twist fields of quantum field theory. The entanglement entropy is then expressed in terms of correlation functions of such operators. Employing this approach we investigate the von Neumann and Rényi entropies of a particularly interesting quantum state occurring as a limit (in a compact convergence topology) of the antiferromagnetic XXZ quantum spin chain. We find that, for large sizes, the entropy scales logarithmically, but not conformally.
Entanglement entropy (EE) is a quantitative measure of the effective degrees of freedom and the correlation between the sub-systems of a physical system. Using the replica trick, we can obtain the EE by evaluating the entanglement Renyi entropy (ERE). The ERE is a q-analogue of the EE and expressed by the q replicated partition function. In the semi-classical approximation, it is apparently easy to calculate the EE because the classical action represents the partition function by the saddle point approximation and we do not need to perform the path integral for the evaluation of the partition function. In previous studies, it has been assumed that only the minimal-valued saddle point contributes to the EE. In this paper, we propose that all the saddle points contribute comparably but not necessarily equally to the EE by dealing carefully with the semi-classical limit and then the q→1 limit. For example, we numerically evaluate the ERE of two disjoint intervals for the large c Liouville field theory with q∼1. We exploit the BPZ equation with the four twist operators, whose solution is given by the Heun function. We determine the ERE by tuning the behavior of the Heun function such that it becomes consistent with the geometry of the replica manifold. We find the same two saddle points as previous studies for q∼1 in the above system. Then, we provide the ERE for the large but finite c and the q∼1 in case that all the saddle points contribute comparably to the ERE. In particular, the ERE is the summation of these two saddle points by the same weight, due to the symmetry of the system. Based on this work, it shall be of interest to reconsider EE in other semi-classical physical systems with multiple saddle points.
In this paper we develop a new approach to the investigation of the bi-partite entanglement entropy in integrable quantum spin chains. Our method employs the well-known replica trick, thus taking a replica version of the spin chain model as starting point. At each site i of this new model we construct an operator T-i which acts as a cyclic permutation among the n replicas of the model. Infinite products of T-i give rise to local operators, precursors of branch-point twist fields of quantum field theory. The entanglement entropy is then expressed in terms of correlation functions of such operators. Employing this approach we investigate the von Neumann and Renyi entropies of a particularly interesting quantum state occurring as a limit (in a compact convergence topology) of the antiferromagnetic XXZ quantum spin chain. We find that, for large sizes, the entropy scales logarithmically, but not conformally.
In a recent Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 180604 (2020)], we introduced a closed-form analytic expression for the average bipartite von Neumann entanglement entropy of many-body eigenstates of random quadratic Hamiltonians, namely, of Hamiltonians whose single-particle eigenstates have random coefficients in the position basis. A paradigmatic Hamiltonian for which the expression is valid is the quadratic Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK2) model in its Dirac fermion formulation. Here we show that the applicability of our result is much broader. Most prominently, it is also relevant for local Hamiltonians such as the three-dimensional (3D) Anderson model at weak disorder. Moreover, it describes the average entanglement entropy in Hamiltonians without particle-number conservation, such as the SYK2 model in the Majorana fermion formulation and the 3D Anderson model with additional terms that break particle-number conservation. We extend our analysis to the average bipartite second R\'enyi entanglement entropy of eigenstates of the same quadratic Hamiltonians, which is derived analytically and tested numerically. We conjecture that our results for the entanglement entropies of many-body eigenstates apply to quadratic Hamiltonians whose single-particle eigenstates exhibit quantum chaos, which we refer to as quantum-chaotic quadratic Hamiltonians.
Entropy is a fundamental concept in equilibrium statistical mechanics, yet its origin in the nonequilibrium dynamics of isolated quantum systems is not fully understood. A strong consensus is emerging around the idea that the stationary thermodynamic entropy is the von Neumann entanglement entropy of a large subsystem embedded in an infinite system. Also motivated by cold-atom experiments, here we consider the generalization to R\'enyi entropies. We develop a new technique to calculate the diagonal R\'enyi entropy in the quench action formalism. In the spirit of the replica treatment for the entanglement entropy, the diagonal R\'enyi entropies are generalized free energies evaluated over a thermodynamic macrostate which depends on the R\'enyi index and, in particular, is not the same state describing von Neumann entropy. The technical reason for this perhaps surprising result is that the evaluation of the moments of the diagonal density matrix shifts the saddle point of the quench action. An interesting consequence is that different R\'enyi entropies encode information about different regions of the spectrum of the postquench Hamiltonian. Our approach provides a very simple proof of the long-standing issue that, for integrable systems, the diagonal entropy is half of the thermodynamic one and it allows us to generalize this result to the case of arbitrary R\'enyi entropy.