2010/07/31 by Mark P. Hertzberg, Frank Wilczek · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Model Reduction and Neural Networks #Quantum many-body systems #cond-mat.stat-mech #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.050404
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.106:050404,2011 · 4+ pages, 1 figure. v2: Some clarifications and more references; updated to resemble version published in PRL
arxiv created 2011/01/31 · openalex publication_date 2011/02/04 · arxiv updated 2011/02/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Entanglement entropy appears as a central property of quantum systems in broad areas of physics. However, its precise value is often sensitive to unknown microphysics, rendering it incalculable. By considering parametric dependence on correlation length, we extract finite, calculable contributions to the entanglement entropy for a scalar field between the interior and exterior of a spatial domain of arbitrary shape. The leading term is proportional to the area of the dividing boundary; we also extract finite subleading contributions for a field defined in the bulk interior of a waveguide in 3+1 dimensions, including terms proportional to the waveguide's cross-sectional geometry: its area, perimeter length, and integrated curvature. We also consider related quantities at criticality and suggest a class of systems for which these contributions might be measurable.