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arXiv:2412.17059 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Projections and teleportation of operator quenches in CFT

Zsolt Gyongyosi, Timothy J. Hollowood, S. Prem Kumar

Published Aug 12, 2025• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A bstract Motivated by recent proposals for information recovery from black holes via non-isometric maps and post-selection in an effective description, we set up and investigate a teleportation scenario in a 2d CFT involving a local operator quench and projection on a portion of space onto a Cardy state with the theory in the vacuum state. Using conformal invariance the system can be mapped to CFT with boundary (BCFT). Rényi entropies for spatial intervals in the projected state can then be computed as a function of the location of the quench, either using the replica method, or using twist fields, the latter employing universal results for correlators at large c . We find qualitatively distinct behaviours in the two systems. Our replica computations reveal a surprising universal n dependence of Rényi entropies which implies that teleportation does occur but is not optimal as would be expected because the projector is not especially tuned. We also find that the curious n dependence of the Rényi entropies means that the limit to the von Neumann entropy is not straightforward.

DOI
10.1007/jhep08(2025)081

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A bstract Motivated by recent proposals for information recovery from black holes via non-isometric maps and post-selection in an effective description, we set up and investigate a teleportation scenario in a 2d CFT involving a local operator quench and projection on a portion of space onto a Cardy state with the theory in the vacuum state. Using conformal invariance the system can be mapped to CFT with boundary (BCFT). Rényi entropies for spatial intervals in the projected state can then be computed as a function of the location of the quench, either using the replica method, or using twist fields, the latter employing universal results for correlators at large c . We find qualitatively distinct behaviours in the two systems. Our replica computations reveal a surprising universal n dependence of Rényi entropies which implies that teleportation does occur but is not optimal as would be expected because the projector is not especially tuned. We also find that the curious n dependence of the Rényi entropies means that the limit to the von Neumann entropy is not straightforward.
Abstract In this note, we consider entanglement and Renyi entropies for spatial subsystems of a boundary conformal field theory (BCFT) or of a CFT in a state constructed using a Euclidean BCFT path integral. Holographic calculations suggest that these entropies undergo phase transitions as a function of time or parameters describing the subsystem; these arise from a change in topology of the RT surface. In recent applications to black hole physics, such transitions have been seen to govern whether or not the bulk entanglement wedge of a (B)CFT region includes a portion of the black hole interior and have played a crucial role in understanding the semiclassical origin of the Page curve for evaporating black holes. In this paper, we reproduce these holographic results via direct (B)CFT calculations. Using the replica method, the entropies are related to correlation functions of twist operators in a Euclidean BCFT. These correlations functions can be expanded in various channels involving intermediate bulk or boundary operators. Under certain sparseness conditions on the spectrum and OPE coefficients of bulk and boundary operators, we show that the twist correlators are dominated by the vacuum block in a single channel, with the relevant channel depending on the position of the twists. These transitions between channels lead to the holographically observed phase transitions in entropies.
We consider the entanglement entropy in 2d conformal field theory in a class of excited states produced by the insertion of a heavy local operator. These include both high-energy eigenstates of the Hamiltonian and time-dependent local quenches. We compute the universal contribution from the stress tensor to the single interval Renyi entropies and entanglement entropy, and conjecture that this dominates the answer in theories with a large central charge and a sparse spectrum of low-dimension operators. The resulting entanglement entropies agree precisely with holographic calculations in three-dimensional gravity. High-energy eigenstates are dual to microstates of the BTZ black hole, so the corresponding holographic calculation is a geodesic length in the black hole geometry; agreement between these two answers demonstrates that these individual microstates of holographic CFTs effectively thermalize at the level of the single-interval entanglement entropy. For local quenches, the dual geometry is a highly boosted black hole or conical defect. On the CFT side, the rise in entanglement entropy after a quench is directly related to the monodromy of a Virasoro conformal block.
A bstract We develop a unified framework for computing Rényi and entanglement entropies of arbitrary spacetime intervals in time-dependent states of (1 + 1)-dimensional conformal field theories. By combining the spacetime density matrix formalism with the replica method, we show that entanglement entropy is well defined for both spacelike and timelike separations. Applying this framework to global quenches prepared by boundary states and to local quenches generated by operator insertions, we obtain analytic expressions for the entanglement entropy in general spacetime configurations. The results reveal qualitative differences between spacelike and timelike intervals: the timelike entanglement entropy is time-independent in the global quench model, depends solely on the temporal separation, and universally exhibits a constant imaginary contribution. These features are naturally explained by a generalized quasiparticle picture in which entanglement is produced precisely when one worldline of each quasiparticle pair intersects the interval. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the linear sum rule relating time- and spacelike entanglement persists in both global and local quenches, indicating a broader universality of spacetime entanglement in real-time quantum dynamics.
We give a recipe for computing correlation functions of the displacement operator localized on a spherical or planar higher dimensional twist defect using AdS/CFT\mathrm{AdS}/\mathrm{CFT}AdS/CFT. Such twist operators are typically used to construct the nnnth Renyi entropies of spatial entanglement in conformal field theories and are holographically dual to black holes with hyperbolic horizons. The displacement operator then tells us how the Renyi entropies change under small shape deformations of the entangling surface. We explicitly construct the bulk to boundary propagator for the displacement operator insertion as a linearized metric fluctuation of the hyperbolic black hole and use this to extract the coefficient of the displacement operator two point function CD{C}_{D}CD​ in any dimension. The $n\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1$ limit of the twist displacement operator gives the same bulk response as the insertion of a null energy operator in vacuum, which is consistent with recent results on the shape dependence of entanglement entropy and modular energy.
We study the time evolution of Renyi entanglement entropy for locally excited states in two dimensional large central charge CFTs. It generically shows a logarithmical growth and we compute the coefficient of log t term. Our analysis covers the entire parameter regions with respect to the replica number n and the conformal dimension h O of the primary operator which creates the excitation. We numerically analyse relevant vacuum conformal blocks by using Zamolodchikov’s recursion relation. We find that the behavior of the conformal blocks in two dimensional CFTs with a central charge c, drastically changes when the dimensions of external primary states reach the value c/32. In particular, when h O ≥ c/32 and n ≥ 2, we find a new universal formula ΔSA(n)≃nc24(n−1) \varDelta {S}_A^{(n)}\simeq \frac{nc}{24\left(n-1\right)} ΔSA(n)​≃24(n−1)nc​ log t. Our numerical results also confirm existing analytical results using the HHLL approximation.
A bstract We study the relative Rényi entropy (RRE) under local quenches in two-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), focusing on rational CFTs (RCFTs) and holographic CFTs. In RCFTs, the RRE evolves as a monotonic function over time, depending on finite-dimensional matrices. It is sometimes symmetric, prompting an investigation into its relationship with the squared trace distance. We also observe that relative entropy can fail to distinguish between operators, as it only captures information entering/exiting the subsystem. In holographic CFTs, an analytic continuation of the RRE reveals insights into the entanglement wedge, offering a new perspective on bulk geometry in AdS/CFT. Our results deepen the understanding of quantum information measures in RCFTs and holographic CFTs, highlighting connections to distinguishability and bulk reconstruction.