10,210 research outputs found
Entanglement entropy and quantum field theory: a non-technical introduction
In these proceedings we give a pedagogical and non-technical introduction to
the Quantum Field Theory approach to entanglement entropy. Particular attention
is devoted to the one space dimensional case, with a linear dispersion
relation, that, at a quantum critical point, can be effectively described by a
two-dimensional Conformal Field Theory.Comment: 10 Pages, 2 figures. Talk given at the conference "Entanglement in
Physical and information sciences", Centro Ennio de Giorgi, Pisa, December
200
Entanglement entropy of two disjoint intervals in c=1 theories
We study the scaling of the Renyi entanglement entropy of two disjoint blocks
of critical lattice models described by conformal field theories with central
charge c=1. We provide the analytic conformal field theory result for the
second order Renyi entropy for a free boson compactified on an orbifold
describing the scaling limit of the Ashkin-Teller (AT) model on the self-dual
line. We have checked this prediction in cluster Monte Carlo simulations of the
classical two dimensional AT model. We have also performed extensive numerical
simulations of the anisotropic Heisenberg quantum spin-chain with tree-tensor
network techniques that allowed to obtain the reduced density matrices of
disjoint blocks of the spin-chain and to check the correctness of the
predictions for Renyi and entanglement entropies from conformal field theory.
In order to match these predictions, we have extrapolated the numerical results
by properly taking into account the corrections induced by the finite length of
the blocks to the leading scaling behavior.Comment: 37 pages, 23 figure
Entanglement entropy of two disjoint intervals in conformal field theory
We study the entanglement of two disjoint intervals in the conformal field
theory of the Luttinger liquid (free compactified boson). Tr\rho_A^n for any
integer n is calculated as the four-point function of a particular type of
twist fields and the final result is expressed in a compact form in terms of
the Riemann-Siegel theta functions. In the decompactification limit we provide
the analytic continuation valid for all model parameters and from this we
extract the entanglement entropy. These predictions are checked against
existing numerical data.Comment: 34 pages, 7 figures. V2: Results for small x behavior added, typos
corrected and refs adde
Entanglement Entropy in Extended Quantum Systems
After a brief introduction to the concept of entanglement in quantum systems,
I apply these ideas to many-body systems and show that the von Neumann entropy
is an effective way of characterising the entanglement between the degrees of
freedom in different regions of space. Close to a quantum phase transition it
has universal features which serve as a diagnostic of such phenomena. In the
second part I consider the unitary time evolution of such systems following a
`quantum quench' in which a parameter in the hamiltonian is suddenly changed,
and argue that finite regions should effectively thermalise at late times,
after interesting transient effects.Comment: 6 pages. Plenary talk delivered at Statphys 23, Genoa, July 200
Field-theory results for three-dimensional transitions with complex symmetries
We discuss several examples of three-dimensional critical phenomena that can
be described by Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson theories. We present an
overview of field-theoretical results obtained from the analysis of high-order
perturbative series in the frameworks of the and of the
fixed-dimension d=3 expansions. In particular, we discuss the stability of the
O(N)-symmetric fixed point in a generic N-component theory, the critical
behaviors of randomly dilute Ising-like systems and frustrated spin systems
with noncollinear order, the multicritical behavior arising from the
competition of two distinct types of ordering with symmetry O() and
O() respectively.Comment: 9 pages, Talk at the Conference TH2002, Paris, July 200
Entanglement properties of quantum spin chains
We investigate the entanglement properties of a finite size 1+1 dimensional
Ising spin chain, and show how these properties scale and can be utilized to
reconstruct the ground state wave function. Even at the critical point, few
terms in a Schmidt decomposition contribute to the exact ground state, and to
physical properties such as the entropy. Nevertheless the entanglement here is
prominent due to the lower-lying states in the Schmidt decomposition.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
On entanglement evolution across defects in critical chains
We consider a local quench where two free-fermion half-chains are coupled via
a defect. We show that the logarithmic increase of the entanglement entropy is
governed by the same effective central charge which appears in the ground-state
properties and which is known exactly. For unequal initial filling of the
half-chains, we determine the linear increase of the entanglement entropy.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, minor changes, reference adde
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