Entanglement entropy of highly degenerate states and fractal dimensions

We consider the bipartite entanglement entropy of ground states of extended quantum systems with a large degeneracy. Often, as when there is a spontaneously broken global Lie group symmetry, basis elements of the lowest-energy space form a natural geometrical structure. For instance, the spins of a spin-1/2 representation, pointing in various directions, form a sphere. We show that for subsystems with a large number m of local degrees of freedom, the entanglement entropy diverges as (d/2) log m, where d is the fractal dimension of the subset of basis elements with nonzero coefficients. We interpret this result by seeing d as the (not necessarily integer) number of zero-energy Goldstone bosons describing the ground state. We suggest that this result holds quite generally for largely degenerate ground states, with potential applications to spin glasses and quenched disorder.Comment: 5 pages. v2: Small changes, published versio

Two-Point Functions of Composite Twist Fields in the Ising Field Theory

All standard measures of bipartite entanglement in one-dimensional quantum field theories can be expressed in terms of correlators of branch point twist fields, here denoted by $\mathcal{T}$ and $\mathcal{T}^\dagger$. These are symmetry fields associated to cyclic permutation symmetry in a replica theory and having the smallest conformal dimension at the critical point. Recently, other twist fields (composite twist fields), typically of higher dimension, have been shown to play a role in the study of a new measure of entanglement known as the symmetry resolved entanglement entropy. In this paper we give an exact expression for the two-point function of a composite twist field that arises in the Ising field theory. In doing so we extend the techniques originally developed for the standard branch point twist field in free theories as well as an existing computation due to Horv\'ath and Calabrese of the same two-point function which focused on the leading large-distance contribution. We study the ground state two-point function of the composite twist field $\mathcal{T}_\mu$ and its conjugate $\mathcal{T}_\mu^\dagger$. At criticality, this field can be defined as the leading field in the operator product expansion of $\mathcal{T}$ and the disorder field $\mu$. We find a general formula for $\log \langle \mathcal{T}_\mu(0) \mathcal{T}^\dagger_\mu(r)\rangle$ and for (the derivative of) its analytic continuation to positive real replica numbers greater than 1. We check our formula for consistency by showing that at short distances it exactly reproduces the expected conformal dimensionComment: 25 pages and 3 figure

Conductance from Non-perturbative Methods II

This talk provides a natural continuation of the talk presented by Andreas Fring in this conference. Part I was focused on explaining how the DC conductance for a free Fermion theory in the presence of different kinds of defects can be computed by evaluating the Kubo formula. In this talk I will focus on an alternative method for the computation of the same quantity, that is the evaluation of Landauer formula. Once again, the integrability of the theories under consideration will be exploited, since a thermodynamic Bethe ansatz analysis provides all the input needed in that case, apart from the corresponding reflection and transmition amplitudes of the defect. The basic conclusion of our analysis will be the perfect agreement between the two different theoretical descriptions mentioned.Comment: 17 pages of latex, 5 figures. Talk held at the Workshop on Integrable Theories, Solitons and Duality IFT-UNESP, Sao Paulo, July 200

Form Factors and Correlation Functions of TT‾\mathrm{T}\overline{\mathrm{T}}-Deformed Integrable Quantum Field Theories

The study of $\mathrm{T}\overline{\mathrm{T}}$-perturbed quantum field theories is an active area of research with deep connections to fundamental aspects of the scattering theory of integrable quantum field theories, generalised Gibbs ensembles, and string theory. Many features of these theories, such as the peculiar behaviour of their ground state energy and the form of their scattering matrices, have been studied in the literature. However, so far, very few studies have approached these theories from the viewpoint of the form factor program. From the perspective of scattering theory, the effects of a $\mathrm{T}\overline{\mathrm{T}}$ perturbation (and higher spin versions thereof) is encoded in a universal deformation of the two-body scattering matrix by a CDD factor. It is then natural to ask how these perturbations influence the form factor equations and, more generally, the form factor program. In this paper, we address this question for free theories, although some of our results extend more generally. We show that the form factor equations admit general solutions and how these can help us study the distinct behaviour of correlation functions at short distances in theories perturbed by irrelevant operators.Comment: 29 Pages and 4 Figure

Completing the Bootstrap Program for TTˉ\mathrm{T}\bar{\mathrm{T}}-Deformed Massive Integrable Quantum Field Theories

In recent years a considerable amount of attention has been devoted to the investigation of 2D quantum field theories perturbed by certain types of irrelevant operators. These are the composite field $\mathrm{T}\bar{\mathrm{T}}$ - constructed out of the components of the stress-energy tensor - and its generalisations - built from higher-spin conserved currents. The effect of such perturbations on the infrared and ultraviolet properties of the theory has been extensively investigated. In the context of integrable quantum field theories, a fruitful perspective is that of factorised scattering theory. In fact, the above perturbations were shown to preserve integrability. The resulting deformed scattering matrices - extensively analysed with the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz - provide the first step in the development of a complete bootstrap program. In this letter we present a systematic approach to computing matrix elements of operators in generalised $\mathrm{T}\bar{\mathrm{T}}$-perturbed models, based on employing the standard form factor program. Our approach is very general and can be applied to all theories with diagonal scattering. We show that the deformed form factors, just as happens for the $S$-matrix, factorise into the product of the undeformed ones and of a perturbation- and theory-dependent term. From these solutions, correlation functions can be obtained and their asymptotic properties studied. Our results set the foundations of a new research program for massive integrable quantum field theory perturbed by irrelevant operators.Comment: 5 pages (letter), 3 pages (supplementary material), 1 figure. Version 2 contains 5 additional reference

Entanglement of Stationary States in the Presence of Unstable Quasiparticles

The effect of unstable quasiparticles in the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of certain integrable systems has been the subject of several recent studies. In this paper we focus on the stationary value of the entanglement entropy density, its growth rate, and related functions, after a quantum quench. We consider several quenches, each of which is characterised by a corresponding squeezed coherent state. In the quench action approach, the coherent state amplitudes $K(\theta)$ become input data that fully characterise the large-time stationary state, thus also the corresponding Yang-Yang entropy. We find that, as function of the mass of the unstable particle, the entropy growth rate has a global minimum signalling the depletion of entropy that accompanies a slowdown of stable quasiparticles at the threshold for the formation of an unstable excitation. We also observe a separation of scales governed by the interplay between the mass of the unstable particle and the quench parameter, separating a non-interacting regime described by free fermions from an interacting regime where the unstable particle is present. This separation of scales leads to a double-plateau structure of many functions, where the relative height of the plateaux is related to the ratio of central charges of the UV fixed points associated with the two regimes, in full agreement with conformal field theory predictions. The properties of several other functions of the entropy and its growth rate are also studied in detail, both for fixed quench parameter and varying unstable particle mass and viceversa

Higher particle form factors of branch point twist fields in integrable quantum field theories

In this paper we compute higher particle form factors of branch point twist fields. These fields were first described in the context of massive 1+1-dimensional integrable quantum field theories and their correlation functions are related to the bi-partite entanglement entropy. We find analytic expressions for some form factors and check those expressions for consistency, mainly by evaluating the conformal dimension of the corresponding twist field in the underlying conformal field theory. We find that solutions to the form factor equations are not unique so that various techniques need to be used to identify those corresponding to the branch point twist field we are interested in. The models for which we carry out our study are characterized by staircase patterns of various physical quantities as functions of the energy scale. As the latter is varied, the beta-function associated to these theories comes close to vanishing at several points between the deep infrared and deep ultraviolet regimes. In other words, renormalisation group flows approach the vicinity of various critical points before ultimately reaching the ultraviolet fixed point. This feature provides an optimal way of checking the consistency of higher particle form factor solutions, as the changes on the conformal dimension of the twist field at various energy scales can only be accounted for by considering higher particle form factor contributions to the expansion of certain correlation functions.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures; v2 contains small correction

Tails of instability and decay:A hydrodynamic perspective

In the context of quantum field theory (QFT), unstable particles are associated with complex-valued poles of two-body scattering matrices in the unphysical sheet of rapidity space. The Breit-Wigner formula relates this pole to the mass and life-time of the particle, observed in scattering events. In this paper, we uncover new, dynamical signatures of unstable excitations and show that they have a strong effect on the non-equilibrium properties of QFT. Focusing on a 1+1D integrable model, and using the theory of Generalized Hydrodynamics, we study the formation and decay of unstable particles by analysing the release of hot matter into a low-temperature environment. We observe the formation of tails and the decay of the emitted nonlinear waves, in sharp contrast to the situation without unstable excitations. We also uncover a new phenomenon by which a wave of a stable population of unstable particles may persist without decay for long times. We expect these signatures of the presence of unstable particles to have a large degree of universality. Our study shows that the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of many-body systems can be strongly affected not only by the spectrum, but also by excitations with finite life-times.</p

Arguments towards a c-theorem from branch-point twist fields

A fundamental quantity in 1+1 dimensional quantum field theories is Zamolodchikov's c-function. A function of a renormalization group distance parameter r that interpolates between UV and IR fixed points, its value is usually interpreted as a measure of the number of degrees of freedom of a model at a particular energy scale. The c-theorem establishes that c(r) is a monotonically decreasing function of r and that its derivative may only vanish at quantum critical points. At those points c(r) becomes the central charge of the conformal field theory which describes the critical point. In this letter we argue that a different function proposed by Calabrese and Cardy, defined in terms of the two-point function of a branch point twist field and the trace of the stress-energy tensor, has exactly the same qualitative features as c(r).Comment: 10 page