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arXiv:2605.28939

Dynamical Entanglement Phase Transitions in Holographic CFTs

Lukas Ebner, Jad C. Halimeh, David Horn, Joseph Dominicus Lap, Jakob J. Minar, Berndt Müller, Andreas Schäfer, Clemens Seidl

hep-thquant-phSubmitted May 27, 2026• Announced May 29, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Jun 27, 2026 (v2)
v1 · May 27, 2026v2 · Jun 27, 2026
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Abstract

We study the time evolution of the entanglement structure of holographic conformal field theories after a local quench. Using the mutual information between two spatial intervals as a probe, we find that $1+1$-dimensional conformal field theories exhibit a rich pattern of dynamical phase transitions. In the large-central-charge limit, mutual information develops sharp non-analyticities at critical times, providing a concrete entanglement-based realization of dynamical quantum phase transitions. We find that the dynamics organize into six distinct phases of mutual information, each controlled by the dominance of a different conformal block, or equivalently, a different holographic geodesic configuration. This phase structure goes beyond the standard quasi-particle picture, explaining non-analytic features that are not captured by simple light-cone propagation from the quench points. We further identify a dynamical $D_4$ symmetry acting on the interval endpoints that controls the presence or absence of mutual information. The onset of mutual information is governed by the breaking of this symmetry to a $\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2$ subgroup, suggesting a symmetry-based characterization of non-equilibrium entanglement dynamics analogous to the role of symmetry in equilibrium critical phenomena. Finally, numerical studies of critical spin chains indicate that finite-$c$ effects smooth out the sharp large-$c$ transitions between different mutual-information phases, while the transitions between phases with and without mutual information appear to remain non-analytic. These results offer a unifying perspective on real-time entanglement dynamics and their critical features in conformal many-body systems.

Comments
26 pages, 19 figures

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We study the time evolution of the entanglement structure of holographic conformal field theories after a local quench. Using the mutual information between two spatial intervals as a probe, we find that 1+11+11+1-dimensional conformal field theories exhibit a rich pattern of dynamical phase transitions. In the large-central-charge limit, mutual information develops sharp non-analyticities at critical times, providing a concrete entanglement-based realization of dynamical quantum phase transitions. We find that the dynamics organize into six distinct phases of mutual information, each controlled by the dominance of a different conformal block, or equivalently, a different holographic geodesic configuration. This phase structure goes beyond the standard quasi-particle picture, explaining non-analytic features that are not captured by simple light-cone propagation from the quench points. We further identify a dynamical D4D_4D4​ symmetry acting on the interval endpoints that controls the presence or absence of mutual information. The onset of mutual information is governed by the breaking of this symmetry to a Z2×Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2Z2​×Z2​ subgroup, suggesting a symmetry-based characterization of non-equilibrium entanglement dynamics analogous to the role of symmetry in equilibrium critical phenomena. Finally, numerical studies of critical spin chains indicate that finite-ccc effects smooth out the sharp large-ccc transitions between different mutual-information phases, while the transitions between phases with and without mutual information appear to remain non-analytic. These results offer a unifying perspective on real-time entanglement dynamics and their critical features in conformal many-body systems.
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We investigate how entanglement spreads in time-dependent states of a 1+1 dimensional conformal field theory (CFT). The results depend qualitatively on the value of the central charge. In rational CFTs, which have central charge below a critical value, entanglement entropy behaves as if correlations were carried by free quasiparticles. This leads to long-term memory effects, such as spikes in the mutual information of widely separated regions at late times. When the central charge is above the critical value, the quasiparticle picture fails. Assuming no extended symmetry algebra, any theory with c > 1 has diminished memory effects compared to the rational models. In holographic CFTs, with c ≫ 1, these memory effects are eliminated altogether at strong coupling, but reappear after the scrambling time t ≳ β log c at weak coupling.
In this thesis we study the time dependence of correlators such as Green function, entanglement (Renyi) entropy and mutual information following quantum quench in Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) and their holographic duals (AdS). We develop a new recursive method to analytically study the thermalization of retarded Green function in CFTs holographically dual to thin shell AdS Vaidya space times. Using this method, analytic results for short time thermalization of the Green function are obtained; its long time behaviour is obtained by implementing this method numerically. This method is also used to study the late time behaviour of the minimally coupled scalar in AdS3 Vaidya and the shear vector mode in AdS5 Vaidya. Studying the latter, we obtain the universal ratio of the shear viscosity to entropy density from a time dependent process. We study the time evolution of single interval Renyi and entanglement entropies following local quantum quenches in CFTs at finite temperature for which the locally excited states have a finite temporal width. We show that the time dependence of Renyi and entanglement entropies, at second order in width, is universal and is determined by the expectation value of the stress tensor in the replica geometry. We study local quenches in two dimensional CFT at large central charge by operators carrying higher spin charge. The holographic description is used to obtain the single interval entanglement entropy, mutual information and scrambling time following the quench. We find that the change in entanglement entropy is finite (and real) only if the spin-three charge, q, is bounded by the energy of the perturbation, E, as |q|/c < E^2/c^2. For larger values of the spin-three charge, the scrambling time is shorter than for pure gravity and controlled by the spin-three Lyapunov exponent.
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