Entanglement entropy in lattice gauge theories

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent theoretical and numerical advances in understanding entanglement entropy in lattice gauge theories, highlighting methods to measure it and exploring its properties in different models.

Contribution

It introduces a method to define and measure entanglement entropy in lattice gauge theories via Hilbert space extension and specialized lattice topologies.

Findings

Entanglement entropy relates to classical flux entropy in Z2 gauge theory.

Signature of non-analytic entanglement entropy dependence in SU(2) gauge theory.

Method enables entanglement measurement in lattice Monte-Carlo simulations.

Abstract

We report on the recent progress in theoretical and numerical studies of entanglement entropy in lattice gauge theories. It is shown that the concept of quantum entanglement between gauge fields in two complementary regions of space can only be introduced if the Hilbert space of physical states is extended in a certain way. In the extended Hilbert space, the entanglement entropy can be partially interpreted as the classical Shannon entropy of the flux of the gauge fields through the boundary between the two regions. Such an extension leads to a reduction procedure which can be easily implemented in lattice simulations by constructing lattices with special topology. This enables us to measure the entanglement entropy in lattice Monte-Carlo simulations. On the simplest example of Z2 lattice gauge theory in (2 + 1) dimensions we demonstrate the relation between entanglement entropy and the classical entropy of the field flux. For SU(2) lattice gauge theory in four dimensions, we find a signature of non-analytic dependence of the entanglement entropy on the size of the region. We also comment on the holographic interpretation of the entanglement entropy.