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arXiv:2610.21723

Operator-Space Entanglement Entropy in Random Fermionic Gaussian Dynamics

Pablo Bayona-Pena, Elena Gramellini, Lorenzo Piroli

quant-phcond-mat.stat-mechmath-phSubmitted Oct 15, 2026• Announced Oct 16, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We study the von Neumann operator-space entanglement entropy (OSEE) of initial product operators evolved under random gaussian dynamics, as modeled by a Brownian SYK$_2$ model. By exploiting a mapping to a domain-wall melting problem, we derive an exact expression for the time-dependent bipartite OSEE in the thermodynamic limit, and obtain an analytic characterization of the corresponding gaussian Page curve emerging at late times. Our results build on recent work on the entanglement dynamics in the all-to-all quantum simple exclusion process, leveraging tools from RMT, including the Coulomb-gas approach and a mapping to the free Jacobi process. Finally, based on our results, we discuss the possibility of relating the OSEE with non-gaussianity measures in the Heisenberg picture.

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36 pages, 2 figures

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cond-mat.stat-mechCross-listedarXiv:2604.28151•Journal of Statistical Mechanics Theory and Experiment•May 1, 2026•1 citation
We study the von Neumann operator-space entanglement entropy (OSEE) of initial product operators evolved under random gaussian dynamics, as modeled by a Brownian SYK2_22​ model. By exploiting a mapping to a domain-wall melting problem, we derive an exact expression for the time-dependent bipartite OSEE in the thermodynamic limit, and obtain an analytic characterization of the corresponding gaussian Page curve emerging at late times. Our results build on recent work on the entanglement dynamics in the all-to-all quantum simple exclusion process, leveraging tools from RMT, including the Coulomb-gas approach and a mapping to the free Jacobi process. Finally, based on our results, we discuss the possibility of relating the OSEE with non-gaussianity measures in the Heisenberg picture.
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We study the time evolution of the Operator Space Entanglement Entropy (OSEE) of one-dimensional number-conserving free fermions subject to a random space- and time-dependent evolution. It is known that, in free-fermion systems without randomness, the OSEE of \emph{local} operators grows at most \emph{logarithmically} in time. Here we show that, in the presence of randomness, the OSEE of local spin operators involving a Jordan-Wigner string grows as O(t)\mathcal O(\sqrt t)O(t​), for all values of the Rényi index. We establish this in two models: a Brownian Hamiltonian and a brick-wall matchgate circuit. We also consider the OSEE of the evolution operator, and we show that it also grows as O(t)\mathcal O(\sqrt{t})O(t​), in contrast with the linear growth generically expected without randomness. We analytically compute the average entropies of the two operators by mapping the quantum models to the symmetric simple exclusion process, relying on an assumption of self-averaging which we support numerically. We also consider two other types of randomness: random evolution in time that keeps spatial translation invariance, and quenched disorder. In the former case, we find that the OSEE also grows as t\sqrt{t}t​. In the latter case, we find that the entropy grows as O(log⁡log⁡t)\mathcal O( \log \log t)O(loglogt) for Hamiltonian evolution both for local operators with a Jordan-Wigner string and for the evolution operator, whereas it remains bounded at all times in the brick-wall matchgate circuit.
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Matchgate circuits describe classically tractable dynamics in a physically relevant setting while nonetheless exhibiting features characteristic of complex quantum systems, such as high amounts of magic. This invites the broader question: to what extent are typical complexity measures saturated under trivial dynamics? Here, we address this by studying the behaviour of different Heisenberg-picture complexity measures in random matchgate ensembles. Our main technical contribution is a tractable and generalisible free-fermionic unitary Weingarten calculus formulated entirely in the Majorana basis. This method is tailored to computing moments of operators, and simplifies to a combinatorics problem which depends on the boundary conditions prescribed by a given operator functional. Using this framework, we derive closed-form expressions for the typical local-operator entanglement, operator stabiliser entropy, and higher-order out-of-time-ordered correlators. For extensive initial Majorana strings, both operator entanglement and stabiliser entropy obey volume laws, even though the underlying circuits remain classically simulable. Out-of-time-ordered correlators can likewise become exponentially small, showing that their late-time saturation value alone does not witness computational hardness and constituting a classically tractable example of emergent free independence. Finally, we relate these separations to operator resource theories, showing how operator entanglement beyond the Gaussian baseline lower-bounds the number of non-Gaussian gates in doped matchgate circuits. Our results present a practical toolbox for computing exact averages over random matchgates, while clarifying the distinction between quantum resources versus simulation complexity, and their dependence on the representation being exploited.
Generic nonequilibrium many-body systems display a linear growth of bipartite entanglement entropy in time, followed by a volume law saturation. In stark contrast, the Page curve dynamics of black-hole physics shows that the entropy peaks at the Page time t Page and then decreases to zero. Here, we investigate such Page-like behavior of the von Neumann entropy in a model of strongly correlated spinless fermions in a typical system-environment setup and characterize the properties of the Page curve dynamics in the presence of interactions using numerically exact matrix product states methods. The two phases of growth, namely, linear growth and bending down, are shown to be separated by a nonanalyticity in the min-entropy before t Page , which separates two different quantum phases, realized as the respective ground states of the corresponding entanglement (or equivalently, modular) Hamiltonian. We confirm and generalize, by introducing interactions, the findings of for a free spinless fermionic chain where the corresponding entanglement Hamiltonian undergoes a quantum phase transition at the point of nonanalyticity. However, in the presence of interactions, a scaling analysis gives a nonzero critical time for the nonanalyticity in the thermodynamic limit only for weak to intermediate interaction strengths, while the dynamics leading to the nonanalyticity becomes for interactions large enough. We present a physical picture explaining these findings.
In a seminal paper, Page found the exact formula for the average entanglement entropy for a pure random state. We consider the analogous problem for the ensemble of pure fermionic Gaussian states, which plays a crucial role in the context of random free Hamiltonians. Using recent results from random matrix theory, we show that the average entanglement entropy of pure random fermionic Gaussian states in a subsystem of NA{N}_{A}NA​ out of NNN degrees of freedom is given by ${\ensuremath{\langle}{S}_{A}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{\mathrm{G}}=(N\ensuremath{-}\frac{1}{2})\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}(2N)+(\frac{1}{4}\ensuremath{-}{N}_{A})\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}(N)+(\frac{1}{2}+{N}_{A}\ensuremath{-}N)\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}(2N\ensuremath{-}2{N}_{A})\ensuremath{-}\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}(N\ensuremath{-}{N}_{A})\ensuremath{-}{N}_{A}$, where $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}$ is the digamma function. Its asymptotic behavior in the thermodynamic limit is given by ${\ensuremath{\langle}{S}_{A}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{\mathrm{G}}=N(log2\ensuremath{-}1)f+N(f\ensuremath{-}1)log(1\ensuremath{-}f)+\frac{1}{2}f+\frac{1}{4}log(1\ensuremath{-}f)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}+\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}O(1/N)$, where $f={N}_{A}/N\ensuremath{\le}1/2$. Remarkably, its leading order agrees with the average over eigenstates of random quadratic Hamiltonians with number conservation, as found by \L{}yd\ifmmode \dot{z}\else \.{z}\fi{}ba, Rigol, and Vidmar. Finally, we compute the variance in the thermodynamic limit, given by the constant ${lim}_{N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}}{(\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{S}_{A})}_{\mathrm{G}}^{2}=\frac{1}{2}[f+{f}^{2}+log(1\ensuremath{-}f)]$.
We study the melting of a domain wall in the quantum simple exclusion process with all-to-all hoppings (a.k.a. the charged SYK2_22​ model). We show that the real-time dynamics of physical quantities of interest can be obtained exploiting spectral results in random matrix theory. We first show that the eigenvalues of the correlation matrix corresponding to the initially charged subsystem evolve according to a Jacobi process, which is defined in terms of a closed system of stochastic differential equations. In turn, this observation allows us to obtain the real-time dynamics of all the eigenvalue moments. We present two physical applications. First, we study the dynamics of the averaged von Neumann entanglement entropy, arriving at a fully explicit expression in the thermodynamic limit. Second, we compute analytically the full-counting statistics of the charge. Our formula allows us to perform a thorough comparison with the full-counting statistics of the classical simple exclusion process. Notably, we show that, in the thermodynamic limit, the quantum and classical full-counting statistics coincide, with no finite-time corrections.