Work

Entanglement Entropy of 2D Conformal Quantum Critical Points: Hearing the Shape of a Quantum Drum

Year: 2006

Type: article

Abstract: 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.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.97.050404

Authors: Eduardo Fradkin, Joel E. Moore

Institutions: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Quantum many-body systems

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research

Awards: Applications of Field Theory to Condensed Matter Physics, CAREER: Correlation, Coherence, and Disorder in Nanoscale Devices and Complex Materials