2017/01/31 by Philipp T. Dumitrescu, Romain Vasseur, Andrew C. Potter · 111 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Entropy (arrow of time) #Extrapolation #Geometry #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Power law #Quantum #Quantum entanglement #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum mechanics #Scaling #Statistical physics #Statistics #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.quant-gas #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.119.110604
published in Physical Review Letters 119(11), 110604 (American Physical Society) · 6+3 pages, 5+4 figures; v2. new appendix on matrix element renormalization, as published
arxiv created 2017/09/14 · openalex publication_date 2017/09/14 · arxiv updated 2017/09/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the universal properties of eigenstate entanglement entropy across the transition between many-body localized (MBL) and thermal phases. We develop an improved real space renormalization group approach that enables numerical simulation of large system sizes and systematic extrapolation to the infinite system size limit. For systems smaller than the correlation length, the average entanglement follows a subthermal volume law, whose coefficient is a universal scaling function. The full distribution of entanglement follows a universal scaling form, and exhibits a bimodal structure that produces universal subleading power-law corrections to the leading volume law. For systems larger than the correlation length, the short interval entanglement exhibits a discontinuous jump at the transition from fully thermal volume law on the thermal side, to pure area law on the MBL side.