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arXiv:2605.27198

Bounds on relative modular Hamiltonians in general QFT

Adriano Chialastri, Christoph Minz, Ko Sanders

Published May 26, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

The relative entropy between two states is a key concept in quantum information theory and quantum field theory. In the setting of quantum field theory, its computation requires the handling of relative modular Hamiltonians, which are typically very difficult to compute explicitly. In this paper, we exploit locality properties of general algebraic QFTs to estimate relative modular Hamiltonians between two states, $ω$ and $\tildeω$, and hence also their relative entropy, in terms of the modular Hamiltonian of a reference state $\hatω$, which might be better understood. For suitable pairs of states we can estimate the relative modular Hamiltonian for the algebra of a region $V_2$ from above, resp. from below, in terms of the modular Hamiltonian of $\hatω$ on a larger region $V_3$, resp. a smaller region $V_1$. Pairs of states and choices of regions which are susceptible to our scheme are related to the presence of superluminal signalling in the sense of Sorkin's paradox. If $ω=\hatω$, then there exists a unitary that maps $ω$ to $\tildeω$ on $V_3$ and that does not allow superluminal signalling from the spacelike complement $V_3'$ to $V_2$, resp. from $V_1$ to $V_2'$, if our upper, resp. lower, bound applies. To investigate the strength of our estimates we consider coherent states for CCR systems, focussing particularly on free scalar fields. Our estimates apply even if the relative modular Hamiltonian cannot be computed exactly. For sufficiently regular excitations we recover an exact result by squeezing. Our method thus yields an independent proof for the relative entropy formula in cases where the relative modular Hamiltonian cannot be computed exactly. For massless fields we establish the analogous result also for double cone regions. These results indicate that our estimates do not lose too much information.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2605.27198

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The relative entropy between two states is a key concept in quantum information theory and quantum field theory. In the setting of quantum field theory, its computation requires the handling of relative modular Hamiltonians, which are typically very difficult to compute explicitly. In this paper, we exploit locality properties of general algebraic QFTs to estimate relative modular Hamiltonians between two states, ωωω and ω~\tildeωω~, and hence also their relative entropy, in terms of the modular Hamiltonian of a reference state ω^\hatωω^, which might be better understood. For suitable pairs of states we can estimate the relative modular Hamiltonian for the algebra of a region V2V_2V2​ from above, resp. from below, in terms of the modular Hamiltonian of ω^\hatωω^ on a larger region V3V_3V3​, resp. a smaller region V1V_1V1​. Pairs of states and choices of regions which are susceptible to our scheme are related to the presence of superluminal signalling in the sense of Sorkin's paradox. If ω=ω^ω=\hatωω=ω^, then there exists a unitary that maps ωωω to ω~\tildeωω~ on V3V_3V3​ and that does not allow superluminal signalling from the spacelike complement V3′V_3'V3′​ to V2V_2V2​, resp. from V1V_1V1​ to V2′V_2'V2′​, if our upper, resp. lower, bound applies. To investigate the strength of our estimates we consider coherent states for CCR systems, focussing particularly on free scalar fields. Our estimates apply even if the relative modular Hamiltonian cannot be computed exactly. For sufficiently regular excitations we recover an exact result by squeezing. Our method thus yields an independent proof for the relative entropy formula in cases where the relative modular Hamiltonian cannot be computed exactly. For massless fields we establish the analogous result also for double cone regions. These results indicate that our estimates do not lose too much information.
The general scope of this PhD thesis is to establish relations between Tomita-Takesaki modular theory, in particular modular Hamiltonians and relative modular Hamiltonians, and physically better understood quantities, such as the stress-energy tensor, energy densities or other modular data in cases where it is known explicitly. In Chapter 1, we will present the basics of operators algebras, Tomita-Takesaki theory, symplectic spaces, and link these concepts to discuss quasi-equivalence of Gaussian states. In Chapter 2, we will discuss algebraic QFTs both in the framework of the Haag-Kastler axioms and of locally covariant QFT, to then specialize to scalar fields and present the stress-energy tensor and the Hadamard condition. In Chapter 3, focussing on Gaussian states of the Weyl-CCR algebra, we study relations between quasi-equivalence of their GNS-representations, differences of the total energy (on some Cauchy surface), and differences between functions of the modular Hamiltonians. Following qualitative relations by Araki and Yamagami, Verch and Longo, we investigate quantitative relations, including in particular estimates of differences between functions of modular Hamiltonians in terms of energy differences. These results will make use of inequalities between p-norms of operators, which we will discuss in Appendix C. In Chapter 4, generalizing the picture beyond Gaussian states, we exploit locality properties of general algebraic QFTs to construct a scheme that allows to estimate relative modular Hamiltonians for suitable pairs of states on some local algebra in terms of modular Hamiltonians of a reference state on bigger or smaller algebras, which might be better understood. For pairs of states susceptible to this scheme, there exist unitaries linking them to the reference state which do not enable superluminal signalling in the sense of Sorkin's paradox. Such unitaries may not however compose the whole class of non-signalling operators, raising the question whether the existence of a non-signalling unitary is a sufficient condition to show the applicability of our estimate. To investigate the strength of our estimates we then consider coherent states for CCR systems, focussing particularly on free scalar fields, where the difference between the upper and lower bounds can be made arbitrarily small, recovering an exact result by squeezing. This yields an independent proof for the relative entropy formula in cases where the relative modular Hamiltonian has not been computed exactly and corroborates the strength of our general estimates. For these results, we will make use of several commutation properties of operators on Fock spaces, which we will present in Appendix A. Results about operator monotone functions will be used throughout this thesis and are explained in Appendix B.
We compute the vacuum local modular Hamiltonian associated with a space ball region in the free scalar massive Quantum Field Theory. We give an explicit expression on the one particle Hilbert space in terms of the massive Legendre differential operator and the Green integral for the Helmholtz operator. The quadratic form of the massive modular Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of an integral of the energy density with parabolic distribution and of a Yukawa potential, that here appears intrinsically. We then get the formula for the local entropy of a Klein-Gordon wave packet. This gives the vacuum relative entropy of a coherent state on the double cone von Neumann algebras associated with the free scalar QFT. Among other points, we have a criterion for a Bogoliubov automorphism to be locally weakly inner and we provide the passivity characterisation of the modular Hamiltonian within the standard subspace set up.
We develop an operator-algebraic framework for modular self-duality, symmetrized relative entropy, and Bogoliubov--Kubo--Mori (BKM) susceptibility of local states in quantum field theory. In finite dimensions, modular self-duality singles out fixed points at which a state coincides with its modularly reflected partner. At such points, the natural comparison functional is the symmetrized Umegaki relative entropy. It vanishes at coincidence, and its Hessian is governed by the BKM quantum Fisher information along the reflected tangent direction. We then extend this fixed-point construction to the local type~III von Neumann algebras that arise in quantum field theory. Here, a local state is compared with the modular pullback of its commutant restriction, and the intrinsic comparison functional is the symmetrized Araki relative entropy. For sufficiently regular state deformations, the fixed-localization Hessian at the self-dual point defines a type~III BKM susceptibility. This coefficient is obtained by evaluating the BKM bilinear form on the tangent selected by the modular pairing. Exact coherent-state realizations are obtained for the free scalar field on wedge algebras and for the chiral U(1)U(1)U(1) current on half-line algebras. In both examples, the comparison functional is exactly quadratic in the deformation parameter, and the susceptibility coefficients admit explicit boost-energy, stress-tensor, or half-line integral representations. We also apply the construction to a ball-shaped boundary region in the vacuum state of a conformal field theory with a semiclassical anti-de Sitter (AdS) gravitational dual. For linear bulk coherent excitations in an exact complementary-recovery model of this sector, bulk--boundary modular intertwining identifies the modular partner with the AdS--Rindler-reflected coherent state, and the symmetrized relative entropy is exactly quadratic.
Abstract We consider the generalization of the Araki–Uhlmann formula for relative entropy to Petz–Rényi relative entropy. We compute this entropy for a free scalar field in the Minkowski wedge between the vacuum and a coherent state, as well as for the free chiral current in a thermal state. In contrast to the relative entropy which in these cases only depends on the symplectic form and thus reduces to the classical entropy of a wave packet, the Petz–Rényi relative entropy also depends on the symmetric part of the two-point function and is thus genuinely quantum. We also consider the relation with standard subspaces, where we define the Rényi entropy of a vector and show that it admits an upper bound given by the entropy of the vector.
Abstract The modular Hamiltonian of reduced states, given essentially by the logarithm of the reduced density matrix, plays an important role within the AdS/CFT correspondence in view of its relation to quantum information. In particular, it is an essential ingredient for quantum information measures of distances between states, such as the relative entropy and the Fisher information metric. However, the modular Hamiltonian is known explicitly only for a few examples. For a family of states ρ λ that is parametrized by a scalar λ, the first order contribution in λ∼=λ−λ0 \overset{\sim }{\lambda } = \lambda -{\lambda}_0 λ∼=λ−λ0​ λ ∼ = λ − λ 0 of the modular Hamiltonian to the relative entropy between ρλ and a reference state ρλ 0 is completely determined by the entanglement entropy, via the first law of entanglement. For several examples, e.g. for ball-shaped regions in the ground state of CFTs, higher order contributions are known to vanish. In these cases the modular Hamiltonian contributes to the Fisher information metric in a trivial way. We investigate under which conditions the modular Hamiltonian provides a non-trivial contribution to the Fisher information metric, i.e. when the contribution of the modular Hamiltonian to the relative entropy is of higher order in λ∼ \overset{\sim }{\lambda } λ∼ λ ∼ . We consider one-parameter families of reduced states on two entangling regions that form an entanglement plateau, i.e. the entanglement entropies of the two regions saturate the Araki-Lieb inequality. We show that in general, at least one of the relative entropies of the two entangling regions is expected to involve λ∼ \overset{\sim }{\lambda } λ∼ λ ∼ contributions of higher order from the modular Hamiltonian. Furthermore, we consider the implications of this observation for prominent AdS/CFT examples that form entanglement plateaux in the large N limit.
A bstract We study the modular Hamiltonian and the entanglement entropy of the BMS-invariant free fermion model. Starting from the modular Hamiltonian on a half-line interval, we calculate the modular Hamiltonian for a region consisting of two disjoint intervals using the uniformization map and a background field method. The resulting modular Hamiltonian contains a local term which generates a geometrical flow, and a bi-local term which mixes operators between the two intervals. We further derive a relation between Wightman functions and the modular Hamiltonian using both diagonalization and a coherent state method. This enables us to compute the entanglement entropy for multi-disjoint intervals. Our explicit results in the BMS free fermion model are compatible with earlier ones based on symmetry and holography.