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arXiv:cond-mat/0511732 · Physical Review A

Entanglement and boundary critical phenomena

Huan-Qiang Zhou, Thomas Barthel, John Ove Fjærestad, Ulrich Schollwöck

Published Nov 21, 2006• 122 citations
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Abstract

We investigate boundary critical phenomena from a quantum-information perspective. Bipartite entanglement in the ground state of one-dimensional quantum systems is quantified using the R\'enyi entropy ${S}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$, which includes the von Neumann entropy $(\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1)$ and the single-copy entanglement $(\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty})$ as special cases. We identify the contribution of the boundaries to the R\'enyi entropy, and show that there is an entanglement loss along boundary renormalization group (RG) flows. This property, which is intimately related to the Affleck-Ludwig $g$ theorem, is a consequence of majorization relations between the spectra of the reduced density matrix along the boundary RG flows. We also point out that the bulk contribution to the single-copy entanglement is half of that to the von Neumann entropy, whereas the boundary contribution is the same.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.74.050305

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We investigate boundary critical phenomena from a quantum-information perspective. Bipartite entanglement in the ground state of one-dimensional quantum systems is quantified using the R'enyi entropy S\ensuremathα{S}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}S\ensuremathα​, which includes the von Neumann entropy (\ensuremathα\ensuremath→1)(\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1)(\ensuremathα\ensuremath→1) and the single-copy entanglement (\ensuremathα\ensuremath→\ensuremath∞)(\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty})(\ensuremathα\ensuremath→\ensuremath∞) as special cases. We identify the contribution of the boundaries to the R'enyi entropy, and show that there is an entanglement loss along boundary renormalization group (RG) flows. This property, which is intimately related to the Affleck-Ludwig ggg theorem, is a consequence of majorization relations between the spectra of the reduced density matrix along the boundary RG flows. We also point out that the bulk contribution to the single-copy entanglement is half of that to the von Neumann entropy, whereas the boundary contribution is the same.
The entanglement entropy in one-dimensional critical systems with boundaries has been associated with the noninteger ground-state degeneracy. This quantity, being a characteristic of boundary fixed points, decreases under renormalization group flow, as predicted by the g theorem. Here, using conformal field theory methods, we exactly calculate the entanglement entropy in the boundary Ising universality class. Our expression can be separated into the well-known bulk term and a boundary entanglement term, displaying a universal flow between two boundary conditions, in accordance with the g theorem. These results are obtained within the replica trick approach, where we show that the associated twist field, a central object generating the geometry of an nnn-sheeted Riemann surface, can be bosonized, giving simple analytic access to multiple quantities of interest. We argue that our result applies to other models falling into the same universality class. This includes the vicinity of the quantum critical point of the two-channel Kondo model, allowing one to track in real space the presence of a region containing one-half of a qubit with entropy 12log(2)\frac{1}{2}log(2)21​log(2), associated with a free local Majorana fermion.
We compare the roles of fidelity and entanglement in characterizing renormalization group flows and quantum phase transitions. It turns out that the scaling parameter extracted from fidelity for different ground states succeeds to capture nontrivial information including stable and unstable fixed points, whereas the von Neumann entropy as a bipartite entanglement measure (or equivalently, majorization relations satisfied by the spectra of the reduced density matrix along renormalization group flows) often fails, as far as the intrinsic irreversibility-information loss along renormalization group flows-is concerned. We also clarify an intimate connection between the von Neumman entropy, majorization relations, and fidelity. The relevance to Zamolodchikov's c theorem is indicated.
We investigate the second-order Rényi entanglement entropy at the quantum critical point of a spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a columnar dimerized square lattice. The universal constant γγγ in the area-law scaling S2(ℓ)=αℓ−γS_{2}(\ell) = α\ell - γS2​(ℓ)=αℓ−γ is found to be sensitive to the entangling surface configurations, with γsp>0γ_{\text{sp}} > 0γsp​>0 for strong-bond-cut (special) surfaces and γord<0γ_{\text{ord}} < 0γord​<0 for weak-bond-cut (ordinary) surfaces, which is attributed to the distinct conformal boundary conditions. Introducing boundary dimerization drives a renormalization group (RG) flow from the special to the ordinary boundary criticality, and the constant γγγ decreases monotonically with increasing dimerization strength, demonstrating irreversible evolution under the boundary RG flow. These results provide numerical evidence for a higher-dimensional analog of the ggg theorem, and suggest γγγ as a possible characteristic function for boundary RG flow in (2+1)(2+1)(2+1)-dimensional conformal field theory.
We analyze the effect of decoherence, modeled by local quantum channels, on quantum critical states and we find universal properties of the resulting mixed state's entanglement, both between system and environment and within the system. Renyi entropies exhibit volume law scaling with a subleading constant governed by a "g function" in conformal field theory, allowing us to define a notion of renormalization group (RG) flow (or "phase transitions") between quantum channels. We also find that the entropy of a subsystem in the decohered state has a subleading logarithmic scaling with subsystem size, and we relate it to correlation functions of boundary condition changing operators in the conformal field theory. Finally, we find that the subsystem entanglement negativity, a measure of quantum correlations within mixed states, can exhibit log scaling or area law based on the RG flow. When the channel corresponds to a marginal perturbation, the coefficient of the log scaling can change continuously with decoherence strength. We illustrate all these possibilities for the critical ground state of the transverse-field Ising model, in which we identify four RG fixed points of dephasing channels and verify the RG flow numerically. Our results are relevant to quantum critical states realized on noisy quantum simulators, in which our predicted entanglement scaling can be probed via shadow tomography methods.
The entanglement entropy of a pure quantum state of a bipartite system A union or logical sumB is defined as the von Neumann entropy of the reduced density matrix obtained by tracing over one of the two parts. In one dimension, the entanglement of critical ground states diverges logarithmically in the subsystem size, with a universal coefficient that for conformally invariant critical points is related to the central charge of the conformal field theory. We find that the entanglement entropy of a standard class of z=2 conformal quantum critical points in two spatial dimensions, in addition to a nonuniversal "area law" contribution linear in the size of the AB boundary, generically has a universal logarithmically divergent correction, which is completely determined by the geometry of the partition and by the central charge of the field theory that describes the critical wave function.