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arXiv:2502.14797 · Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

Entanglement entropy evolution during gravitational collapse

Alessio Belfiglio, Orlando Luongo, Stefano Mancini, Sebastiano Tomasi

Published Jul 16, 2025• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of the ground state entanglement entropy for a discretized scalar field propagating within the Oppenheimer-Snyder collapse metric. Starting from a well-controlled initial configuration, we follow the system as it evolves toward the formation of a horizon and, eventually, a singularity. Our approach employs an Ermakov-like equation to determine the time-dependent ground state of the field and calculates the resulting entanglement entropy by tracing out the degrees of freedom inside a spherical region within the matter sphere. We find that the entanglement entropy exhibits nontrivial scaling and time dependence during collapse. Close to the horizon, the entropy can deviate from the simple area law, reflecting the rapid changes in geometry and field configuration. Although the model is idealized, these results provide insights into the generation and scaling of entanglement in the presence of realistic, dynamically evolving gravitational fields.

DOI
10.1103/gxx4-598f

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A scalar field in the ground state, when partially hidden from observation by a spherical boundary, acquires entanglement entropy SSS proportional to the area of the surface. This area law is well established in flat space, where it follows almost directly from dimensional arguments. We study its validity in an Einstein universe, whose curvature provides an additional physical parameter on which the entropy could, in principle, depend. The surprisingly simple result is that the entanglement entropy still scales linearly with the area. This is supported by other observations to the effect that the entanglement entropy arises mostly from degrees of freedom near the boundary, making it insensitive to the large-scale geometry of the background space.
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