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arXiv:2511.17098 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Entanglement first law for timelike entanglement entropy and linearized Einstein’s equation

Guo-Ying Li, Mei-Hui Xiao, Song Lin He, Jia-Rui Sun

Published Jun 12, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

A bstract We extend the entanglement first law of conformal field theory (CFT) to timelike subregions. Focusing on intervals along the time direction of the boundary CFT, we show that the associated timelike entanglement entropy obeys a first-law-like relation, with an effective entanglement temperature inversely proportional to the temporal size of the interval. By implementing a double Wick rotation, we obtain the exact modular Hamiltonian for a suitable hyperbolic subsystem and use it to formulate the timelike entanglement first law precisely. Our central result is a detailed proof that, in asymptotically Anti-de Sitter spacetime, this timelike entanglement first law is equivalent to linearized Einstein’s equations in the bulk: the first law follows from the linearized equations and, conversely, implies them. Our results further reveal the dynamical connections between entanglement and gravity.

DOI
10.1007/jhep06(2026)144

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A bstract We study the timelike entanglement entropy (TEE) in two dimensional conformal field theories (CFT) with gravitational anomalies. We employ analytical continuation to compute the timelike entanglement entropy for a pure timelike interval in such CFTs. We find that, unlike the real part, the imaginary part of the TEE displays an asymmetric dependence on the central charges of the left and right moving modes. We propose that the asymmetric dependence on central charges of the imaginary part of the TEE can be used to probe the presence of gravitational anomalies in chiral CFT. Furthermore, we propose a holographic construction to obtain the timelike entanglement entropy from the bulk dual geometries involving topologically massive gravity in AdS 3 . The holographic results obtained match exactly with the dual field theory results.
In this study, we establish a connection between time- and spacelike entanglement entropy. We show that timelike entanglement entropy is closely related to spacelike entanglement entropy and its temporal derivative. For a broad class of states, it can be uniquely determined by a linear combination of spacelike entanglement entropy and its first-order temporal derivative. This relation holds, for instance, in states conformally equivalent to the vacuum in two-dimensional conformal field theories. For more general states, we demonstrate that the relation can be constructed perturbatively. Our results suggest that timelike entanglement entropy is constrained by causality. Moreover, this relation provides a unified framework for time- and spacelike entanglement entropy, within which the imaginary component of timelike entanglement entropy can be understood as arising from the noncommutativity between the twist operator and its first-order temporal derivative.
We develop a unified framework for computing Rényi and entanglement entropies of arbitrary spacetime intervals in time-dependent states of (1+1)(1+1)(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.
For a perturbation of the state of a conformal field theory (CFT), the response of the entanglement entropy is governed by the so-called ``first law'' of entanglement entropy, in which the change in entanglement entropy is proportional to the change in energy. Whether such a first law holds for other types of perturbations, such as a change to the CFT Lagrangian, remains an open question. We use holography to study the evolution in time ttt of entanglement entropy for a CFT driven by a ttt-linear source for a conserved U(1)U(1)U(1) current or marginal scalar operator. We find that although the usual first law of entanglement entropy may be violated, a first law for the rates of change of entanglement entropy and energy still holds. More generally, we prove that this first law for rates holds in holography for any asymptotically (d+1d+1d+1)-dimensional anti--de Sitter metric perturbation whose ttt dependence first appears at order zd{z}^{d}zd in the Fefferman-Graham expansion about the boundary at z=0z=0z=0.
We study the dynamics of entanglement entropy for weakly excited states in conformal field theories by using anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT). This is aimed at a first step to finding a counterpart of the Einstein equation in CFT language. In particular, we point out that the entanglement entropy satisfies differential equations that directly correspond to the Einstein equation in several setups of AdS/CFT. We also define a quantity called entanglement density in higher dimensional field theories and study its dynamical property for weakly excited states in conformal field theories.