skip to main content

Explore Research Products in the NSF-PAR

Title: Effective entropy of quantum fields coupled with gravity
A bstract Entanglement entropy, or von Neumann entropy, quantifies the amount of uncertainty of a quantum state. For quantum fields in curved space, entanglement entropy of the quantum field theory degrees of freedom is well-defined for a fixed background geometry. In this paper, we propose a generalization of the quantum field theory entanglement entropy by including dynamical gravity. The generalized quantity named effective entropy, and its Renyi entropy generalizations, are defined by analytic continuation of a replica calculation. The replicated theory is defined as a gravitational path integral with multiple copies of the original boundary conditions, with a co-dimension-2 brane at the boundary of region we are studying. We discuss different approaches to define the region in a gauge invariant way, and show that the effective entropy satisfies the quantum extremal surface formula. When the quantum fields carry a significant amount of entanglement, the quantum extremal surface can have a topology transition, after which an entanglement island region appears. Our result generalizes the Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi formula of holographic entropy (with quantum corrections) to general geometries without asymptotic AdS boundary, and provides a more solid framework for addressing problems such as the Page curve of evaporating black holes in asymptotic flat spacetime. We apply the formula to two example systems, a closed two-dimensional universe and a four-dimensional maximally extended Schwarzchild black hole. We discuss the analog of the effective entropy in random tensor network models, which provides more concrete understanding of quantum information properties in general dynamical geometries. We show that, in absence of a large boundary like in AdS space case, it is essential to introduce ancilla that couples to the original system, in order for correctly characterizing quantum states and correlation functions in the random tensor network. Using the superdensity operator formalism, we study the system with ancilla and show how quantum information in the entanglement island can be reconstructed in a state-dependent and observer-dependent map. We study the closed universe (without spatial boundary) case and discuss how it is related to open universe.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1720504
NSF-PAR ID:
10202291
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of High Energy Physics
Volume:
2020
Issue:
10
ISSN:
1029-8479
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ( , Journal of High Energy Physics)
    A<sc>bstract</sc>

    We construct a Type II∞von Neumann algebra that describes the largeNphysics of single-trace operators in AdS/CFT in the microcanonical ensemble, where there is no need to include perturbative 1/Ncorrections. Using only the extrapolate dictionary, we show that the entropy of semiclassical states on this algebra is holographically dual to the generalized entropy of the black hole bifurcation surface. From a boundary perspective, this constitutes a derivation of a special case of the QES prescription without any use of Euclidean gravity or replicas; from a purely bulk perspective, it is a derivation of the quantum-corrected Bekenstein-Hawking formula as the entropy of an explicit algebra in theG →0 limit of Lorentzian effective field theory quantum gravity. In a limit where a black hole is first allowed to equilibrate and then is later potentially re-excited, we show that the generalized second law is a direct consequence of the monotonicity of the entropy of algebras under trace-preserving inclusions. Finally, by considering excitations that are separated by more than a scrambling time we construct a “free product” von Neumann algebra that describes the semiclassical physics of long wormholes supported by shocks. We compute Rényi entropies for this algebra and show that they are equal to a sum over saddles associated to quantum extremal surfaces in the wormhole. Surprisingly, however, the saddles associated to “bulge” quantum extremal surfaces contribute with a negative sign.

     
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ( , Journal of High Energy Physics)
    A bstract We study minimum area surfaces associated with a region, R , of an internal space. For example, for a warped product involving an asymptotically AdS space and an internal space K , the region R lies in K and the surface ends on ∂R . We find that the result of Graham and Karch can be avoided in the presence of warping, and such surfaces can sometimes exist for a general region R . When such a warped product geometry arises in the IR from a higher dimensional asymptotic AdS, we argue that the area of the surface can be related to the entropy arising from entanglement of internal degrees of freedom of the boundary theory. We study several examples, including warped or direct products involving AdS 2 , or higher dimensional AdS spaces, with the internal space, K = R m , S m ; Dp brane geometries and their near horizon limits; and several geometries with a UV cut-off. We find that such RT surfaces often exist and can be useful probes of the system, revealing information about finite length correlations, thermodynamics and entanglement. We also make some preliminary observations about the role such surfaces can play in bulk reconstruction, and their relation to subalgebras of observables in the boundary theory. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ( , Journal of High Energy Physics)
    A<sc>bstract</sc>

    We study the entanglement phase structure of a holographic boundary conformal field theory (BCFT) in a two-dimensional black hole background. The bulk dual is the AdS3black string geometry with a Karch-Randall brane. We compute the subregion entanglement entropy of various two-sided bipartitions to elucidate the phase space where a Page curve exists in this setup. We do fully analytical computations on both the gravity side and the field theory side and demonstrate that the results precisely match. We discuss the entanglement phase structure describing where a Page curve exists in this geometry in the context of these analytical results. This is a useful model to study entanglement entropy for quantum field theory on a curved background.

     
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ( , SciPost Physics)

    Late-time dominance of entanglement islands plays a critical role in addressing the information paradox for black holes in AdS coupled to an asymptotic non-gravitational bath. A natural question is how this observation can be extended to gravitational systems. To gain insight into this question, we explore how this story is modified within the context of Karch-Randall braneworlds when we allow the asymptotic bath to couple to dynamical gravity. We find that because of the inability to separate degrees of freedom by spatial location when defining the radiation region, the entanglement entropy of radiation emitted into the bath is a time-independent constant, consistent with recent work on black hole information in asymptotically flat space. If we instead consider an entanglement entropy between two sectors of a specific division of the Hilbert space, we then find non-trivial time-dependence, with the Page time a monotonically decreasing function of the brane angle---provided both branes are below a particular angle. However, the properties of the entropy depend discontinuously on this angle, which is the first example of such discontinuous behavior for an AdS brane in AdS space.

     
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ( , Journal of High Energy Physics)
    null (Ed.)
    A bstract We describe the construction of traversable wormholes with multiple mouths in four spacetime dimensions and discuss associated quantum entanglement. Our wormholes may be traversed between any pair of mouths. In particular, in the three-mouth case they have fundamental group F 2 (the free group on two generators). By contrast, connecting three regions A, B, C in pairs ( AB , BC , and AC ) using three separate wormholes would give fundamental group F 3 . Our solutions are asymptotically flat up to the presence of possible magnetic fluxes or cosmic strings that extend to infinity. The construction begins with a two-mouth traversable wormhole supported by backreaction from quantum fields. Inserting a sufficiently small black hole into its throat preserves traversability between the original two mouths. This black hole is taken to be the mouth of another wormhole connecting the original throat to a new distant region of spacetime. Making the new wormhole traversable in a manner similar to the original two-mouth wormhole provides the desired causal connections. From a dual field theory point of view, when AdS asymptotics are added to our construction, multiparty entanglement may play an important role in the traversability of the resulting wormhole. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email