Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Shape dependence of entanglement entropy in conformal field theories

Thomas Faulkner

Published May 23, 2022• 61 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Here, we study universal features in the shape dependence of entanglement entropy in the vacuum state of a conformal field theory (CFT) on R1,d--1. We consider the entanglement entropy across a deformed planar or spherical entangling surface in terms of a perturbative expansion in the infinitesimal shape deformation. In particular, we focus on the second order term in this expansion, known as the entanglement density. This quantity is known to be non-positive by the strong-subadditivity property. We also show from a purely field theory calculation that the non-local part of the entanglement density in any CFT is universal, and proportional to the coefficient CT appearing in the two-point function of stress tensors in that CFT. As applications of our result, we prove the conjectured universality of the corner term coefficient σ/CT=π2/24 in d = 3 CFTs, and the holographic Mezei formula for entanglement entropy across deformed spheres.

DOI
10.1007/jhep04%282016%29088

Related papers

Shape dependence of entanglement entropy in conformal field theories

Thomas Faulkner, Robert G. Leigh, Onkar Parrikar

We study universal features in the shape dependence of entanglement entropy in the vacuum state of a conformal field theory (CFT) on $$ {\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}}^{1,d-1} $$ . We consider the entanglement entropy across a deformed planar or spherical entangling surface in terms of a perturbative expansion in the infinitesimal shape deformation. In particular, we focus on the second order term in this expansion, known as the entanglement density. This quantity is known to be non-positive by the strong-subadditivity property. We show from a purely field theory calculation that the non-local part of the entanglement density in any CFT is universal, and proportional to the coefficient C T appearing in the two-point function of stress tensors in that CFT. As applications of our result, we prove the conjectured universality of the corner term coefficient $$ \frac{\sigma }{C_T}=\frac{\pi^2}{24} $$ in d = 3 CFTs, and the holographic Mezei formula for entanglement entropy across deformed spheres.

arXiv:1511.05179•Journal of High Energy Physics•Apr 1, 2016•69 citations

Rényi entropy and conformal defects

Lorenzo Bianchi, Marco Meineri, Robert Cobb Myers +1 more

We propose a field theoretic framework for calculating the dependence of Rényi entropies on the shape of the entangling surface in a conformal field theory. Our approach rests on regarding the corresponding twist operator as a conformal defect and in particular, we define the displacement operator which implements small local deformations of the entangling surface. We identify a simple constraint between the coefficient defining the two-point function of the displacement operator and the conformal weight of the twist operator, which consolidates a number of distinct conjectures on the shape dependence of the Rényi entropy. As an example, using this approach, we examine a conjecture regarding the universal coefficient associated with a conical singularity in the entangling surface for CFTs in any number of spacetime dimensions. We also provide a general formula for the second order variation of the Rényi entropy arising from small deformations of a spherical entangling surface, extending Mezei’s results for the entanglement entropy.

arXiv:1511.06713•Journal of High Energy Physics•Jul 1, 2016•107 citations

Shape Dependence of Holographic Rényi Entropy in Conformal Field Theories

Xi Dong

We develop a framework for studying the well-known universal term in the Rényi entropy for an arbitrary entangling region in four-dimensional conformal field theories that are holographically dual to gravitational theories. The shape dependence of the Rényi entropy S_{n} is described by two coefficients: f_{b}(n) for traceless extrinsic curvature deformations and f_{c}(n) for Weyl tensor deformations. We provide the first calculation of the coefficient f_{b}(n) in interacting theories by relating it to the stress tensor one-point function in a deformed hyperboloid background. The latter is then determined by a straightforward holographic calculation. Our results show that a previous conjecture f_{b}(n)=f_{c}(n), motivated by surprising evidence from a variety of free field theories and studies of conical defects, fails holographically.

arXiv:1602.08493•Physical Review Letters•Jun 21, 2016•55 citations

Entanglement entropy across a deformed sphere

Márk Mezei

I study the entanglement entropy (EE) across a deformed sphere in conformal field theories (CFTs). I show that the sphere (locally) minimizes the universal term in EE among all shapes. In the work of Allais and Mezei [Phys. Rev. D 91, 046002 (2015)] it was derived that the sphere is a local extremum, by showing that the contribution linear in the deformation parameter is absent. In this paper I demonstrate that the quadratic contribution is positive and is controlled by the coefficient of the stress tensor two-point function, ${C}_{T}$. Such a minimization result contextualizes the fruitful relation between the EE of a sphere and the number of degrees of freedom in field theory. I work with CFTs with gravitational duals, where all higher curvature couplings are turned on. These couplings parametrize conformal structures in stress tensor $n$-point functions; hence I show the result for infinitely many CFT examples.

arXiv:1411.7011•Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields•Feb 27, 2015•89 citations

Entanglement entropy and conformal bounds for d = 5 CFTs

Pablo Bueno, Adam Fernández García, Francesco Gentile +2 more

A bstract The entanglement entropy of spacetime regions A in odd-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs) contains a universal constant term, $$ {\left(-1\right)}^{\frac{d-1}{2}}\ F(A) $$ − 1 d − 1 2 F A . This quantity can be robustly defined by considering the mutual information of pairs of slightly deformed versions of A . In the case of general three-dimensional CFTs, F ( A ) is positive definite and bounded below by the round disk result, F ( A ) ≥ F 0 ≡ F ( ∂A = 𝕊 1 ). Additionally, strong evidence has been provided that for every region A , F ( A ) /F 0 is maximized, within the space of CFT 3 ’s, by the free scalar field result. In this paper we show that while F ( A ) remains a local minimum around F 0 ≡ F ( ∂A = 𝕊 3 ) for small deformations of the spherical entangling surface, it can take values of arbitrarily large magnitude with either sign for more general regions, and hence it is neither upper- nor lower-bounded in general CFT 5 ’s. We argue that an analogous conjecture regarding the extremization of F ( A ) /F 0 for general regions within the space of theories fails in d = 5. We instead analyze the viability of the weaker bound, F ϵ /F 0 ≤ F ϵ /F 0 | free scalar , ∀CFT 5 for general small geometric deformations of the spherical entangling surface. This is equivalent to a general constraint involving the stress-tensor two-point function C T and the Euclidean partition function on the sphere, namely, C T /F 0 ≤ C T /F 0 | free scalar ≈ 0 . 314, which we show to hold for all known CFT 5 ’s. We also comment on possible extensions of this result to higher dimensions.

arXiv:2604.01436•Journal of High Energy Physics•Aug 17, 2026•0 citations

A universal feature of CFT Rényi entropy

Eric Perlmutter

We show that for a d-dimensional CFT in flat space, the Rényi entropy S q across a spherical entangling surface has the following property: in an expansion around q = 1, the first correction to the entanglement entropy is proportional to C T , the coefficient of the stress tensor vacuum two-point function, with a fixed d-dependent coefficient. This is equivalent to a similar statement about the free energy of CFTs living on S 1 × $ \mathbb{H} $ d−1 with inverse temperature β = 2πq. In addition to furnishing a direct argument applicable to all CFTs, we exhibit this result using a handful of gravity and field theory computations. Knowledge of C T thus doubles as knowledge of Rényi entropies in the neighborhood of q = 1, which we use to establish new results in 3d vector models at large N.

arXiv:1308.1083•Journal of High Energy Physics•Mar 1, 2014•87 citations
Here, we study universal features in the shape dependence of entanglement entropy in the vacuum state of a conformal field theory (CFT) on R1,d--1. We consider the entanglement entropy across a deformed planar or spherical entangling surface in terms of a perturbative expansion in the infinitesimal shape deformation. In particular, we focus on the second order term in this expansion, known as the entanglement density. This quantity is known to be non-positive by the strong-subadditivity property. We also show from a purely field theory calculation that the non-local part of the entanglement density in any CFT is universal, and proportional to the coefficient CT appearing in the two-point function of stress tensors in that CFT. As applications of our result, we prove the conjectured universality of the corner term coefficient σ/CT=π2/24 in d = 3 CFTs, and the holographic Mezei formula for entanglement entropy across deformed spheres.
We study universal features in the shape dependence of entanglement entropy in the vacuum state of a conformal field theory (CFT) on R1,d−1 {\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}}^{1,d-1} R1,d−1 . We consider the entanglement entropy across a deformed planar or spherical entangling surface in terms of a perturbative expansion in the infinitesimal shape deformation. In particular, we focus on the second order term in this expansion, known as the entanglement density. This quantity is known to be non-positive by the strong-subadditivity property. We show from a purely field theory calculation that the non-local part of the entanglement density in any CFT is universal, and proportional to the coefficient C T appearing in the two-point function of stress tensors in that CFT. As applications of our result, we prove the conjectured universality of the corner term coefficient σCT=π224 \frac{\sigma }{C_T}=\frac{\pi^2}{24} CT​σ​=24π2​ in d = 3 CFTs, and the holographic Mezei formula for entanglement entropy across deformed spheres.
We propose a field theoretic framework for calculating the dependence of Rényi entropies on the shape of the entangling surface in a conformal field theory. Our approach rests on regarding the corresponding twist operator as a conformal defect and in particular, we define the displacement operator which implements small local deformations of the entangling surface. We identify a simple constraint between the coefficient defining the two-point function of the displacement operator and the conformal weight of the twist operator, which consolidates a number of distinct conjectures on the shape dependence of the Rényi entropy. As an example, using this approach, we examine a conjecture regarding the universal coefficient associated with a conical singularity in the entangling surface for CFTs in any number of spacetime dimensions. We also provide a general formula for the second order variation of the Rényi entropy arising from small deformations of a spherical entangling surface, extending Mezei’s results for the entanglement entropy.
We develop a framework for studying the well-known universal term in the Rényi entropy for an arbitrary entangling region in four-dimensional conformal field theories that are holographically dual to gravitational theories. The shape dependence of the Rényi entropy S_{n} is described by two coefficients: f_{b}(n) for traceless extrinsic curvature deformations and f_{c}(n) for Weyl tensor deformations. We provide the first calculation of the coefficient f_{b}(n) in interacting theories by relating it to the stress tensor one-point function in a deformed hyperboloid background. The latter is then determined by a straightforward holographic calculation. Our results show that a previous conjecture f_{b}(n)=f_{c}(n), motivated by surprising evidence from a variety of free field theories and studies of conical defects, fails holographically.
I study the entanglement entropy (EE) across a deformed sphere in conformal field theories (CFTs). I show that the sphere (locally) minimizes the universal term in EE among all shapes. In the work of Allais and Mezei [Phys. Rev. D 91, 046002 (2015)] it was derived that the sphere is a local extremum, by showing that the contribution linear in the deformation parameter is absent. In this paper I demonstrate that the quadratic contribution is positive and is controlled by the coefficient of the stress tensor two-point function, CT{C}_{T}CT​. Such a minimization result contextualizes the fruitful relation between the EE of a sphere and the number of degrees of freedom in field theory. I work with CFTs with gravitational duals, where all higher curvature couplings are turned on. These couplings parametrize conformal structures in stress tensor nnn-point functions; hence I show the result for infinitely many CFT examples.
A bstract The entanglement entropy of spacetime regions A in odd-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs) contains a universal constant term, (−1)d−12 F(A) {\left(-1\right)}^{\frac{d-1}{2}}\ F(A) (−1)2d−1​ F(A) − 1 d − 1 2 F A . This quantity can be robustly defined by considering the mutual information of pairs of slightly deformed versions of A . In the case of general three-dimensional CFTs, F ( A ) is positive definite and bounded below by the round disk result, F ( A ) ≥ F 0 ≡ F ( ∂A = 𝕊 1 ). Additionally, strong evidence has been provided that for every region A , F ( A ) /F 0 is maximized, within the space of CFT 3 ’s, by the free scalar field result. In this paper we show that while F ( A ) remains a local minimum around F 0 ≡ F ( ∂A = 𝕊 3 ) for small deformations of the spherical entangling surface, it can take values of arbitrarily large magnitude with either sign for more general regions, and hence it is neither upper- nor lower-bounded in general CFT 5 ’s. We argue that an analogous conjecture regarding the extremization of F ( A ) /F 0 for general regions within the space of theories fails in d = 5. We instead analyze the viability of the weaker bound, F ϵ /F 0 ≤ F ϵ /F 0 | free scalar , ∀CFT 5 for general small geometric deformations of the spherical entangling surface. This is equivalent to a general constraint involving the stress-tensor two-point function C T and the Euclidean partition function on the sphere, namely, C T /F 0 ≤ C T /F 0 | free scalar ≈ 0 . 314, which we show to hold for all known CFT 5 ’s. We also comment on possible extensions of this result to higher dimensions.
We show that for a d-dimensional CFT in flat space, the Rényi entropy S q across a spherical entangling surface has the following property: in an expansion around q = 1, the first correction to the entanglement entropy is proportional to C T , the coefficient of the stress tensor vacuum two-point function, with a fixed d-dependent coefficient. This is equivalent to a similar statement about the free energy of CFTs living on S 1 × $ \mathbb{H} $ d−1 with inverse temperature β = 2πq. In addition to furnishing a direct argument applicable to all CFTs, we exhibit this result using a handful of gravity and field theory computations. Knowledge of C T thus doubles as knowledge of Rényi entropies in the neighborhood of q = 1, which we use to establish new results in 3d vector models at large N.