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arXiv:2601.02877

Entanglement Entropy for Screened Interactions via Dimensional Mapping to Harmonic Oscillators

Akshay Kulkarni, Rahul Nigam

quant-phhep-thSubmitted Jan 6, 2026• Announced Jan 7, 2026• 0 citations
v1 · Jan 6, 2026v2 · Jan 22, 2026
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Abstract

We investigate interaction-induced corrections to entanglement entropy by mapping a screened Yukawa-type interaction to an effective harmonic oscillator system with controlled anharmonic perturbations. Starting from a one-dimensional interaction $V(x) = -g^2 e^{-αm x}/x$, we reformulate the problem in terms of a four-dimensional radial oscillator, where the finite screening length generates a systematic hierarchy of polynomial interactions in the radial coordinate. This mapping enables a controlled Rayleigh-Schrodinger perturbative treatment of the ground-state wavefunction and an explicit spectral analysis of the reduced density matrix. Working in the weak-screening regime, we compute the leading non-Gaussian correction arising from the quartic interaction $ρ^4$, which appears at order $α^2$ in the expansion of the Yukawa-like potential. We obtain closed analytic expressions for the resulting small eigenvalues of the reduced density matrix and evaluate their contribution to the von Neumann entanglement entropy. We show that the entropy receives analytic corrections at order $α^2$, originating both from explicit anharmonic state-mixing effects and from the implicit $α$ dependence of the Gaussian width parameter. Our results clarify the distinct roles of harmonic renormalization and genuinely non-Gaussian interactions in generating entanglement, establish a systematic power-counting and normalization scheme for higher-order $ρ^{2n}$ perturbations, and provide a transparent oscillator-based framework for computing entanglement entropy in weakly interacting low-dimensional and field-theoretic systems.

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15 pages, no figure

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We compute the entanglement entropy across a Rindler horizon in scalar field theory with Yukawa interaction. Starting from a microscopic scalar-mediator theory in flat spacetime, we integrate out the massive mediator to obtain a quadratic but nonlocal effective kernel that determines the ground-state wavefunctional. The reduced density matrix for a single Rindler wedge is constructed explicitly by tracing over the complementary wedge, allowing the entanglement entropy to be evaluated directly from the kernel without replica or geometric methods. Exploiting translational invariance parallel to the horizon, the problem decomposes into independent transverse momentum sectors that reduce effectively to one-dimensional nonlocal systems and can be diagonalized analytically in the weak-coupling regime. The interaction-induced entropy obeys an area law, with leading corrections controlled by the Yukawa screening mass and logarithmically sensitive to the transverse ultraviolet cutoff, reflecting the localization of correlations near the horizon. Although the modular Hamiltonian depends on the Rindler acceleration, the entanglement spectrum and entropy are independent of this choice, demonstrating the observer-independent nature of vacuum entanglement. Our framework provides a direct and microscopically transparent approach to computing interaction-induced corrections to horizon entanglement using nonlocal effective kernels.
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In this work, we explore the effects of a quantum quench on the entanglement measures of a two-body coupled oscillator system having quartic interaction. We use the invariant operator method, under a perturbative framework, for computing the ground state of this system. We give the analytical expressions for the total and reduced density matrix of the system having non-Gaussian, quartic interaction terms. Using this reduced density matrix, we show the analytical calculation of two entanglement measures viz., Von Neumann entanglement entropy using replica trick and Renyi entanglement entropy. Further, we give a numerical estimate of these entanglement measures with respect to the dimensionless parameter $(t/\ensuremath{\delta}t)$ and show its behavior in the three regimes, i.e., late time behavior, around the quench point and the early time behavior. We comment on the variation of these entanglement measures for different orders of coupling strength. The variation of Renyi entropy of different orders has also been discussed.
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We provide a framework for a perturbative evaluation of the reduced density matrix. The method is based on a path integral in the analytically continued spacetime. It suggests an alternative to the holographic and ‘standard’ replica trick calculations of entanglement entropy. We implement this method within solvable field theory examples to evaluate leading order corrections induced by small perturbations in the geometry of the background and entangling surface. Our findings are in accord with Solodukhin’s formula for the universal term of entanglement entropy for four dimensional CFTs.
Entanglement entropy (EE) is a pivotal quantity in quantum field theory (QFT) that captures the nonlocal correlations between subsystems, offering deep insights into the quantum structure of spacetime, field dynamics, and phase transitions. This work derives EE in QFT using the covariance matrix formalism, establishing its foundations through the von Neumann entropy of reduced density matrices. We analytically compute EE for coupled harmonic oscillators as a prototypical model, extending the results to quantum fields via perturbative expansions. In the context of Maxwell QFT, we analyze entropy corrections induced by external perturbations, revealing their fractal dynamics through the emergence of Julia sets. The study further incorporates noncommutative geometry, where the deformation of spacetime modifies the covariance matrix, field strength tensors, and modular indices. Numerical simulations validate the derived scaling laws, entropy corrections, and noncommutative effects. These findings provide a mathematically rigorous framework to explore the interplay between EE, field theory, and geometric structures in high-energy physics.