Universal Behavior of Entanglement in 2D Quantum Critical Dimer Models

TL;DR

This paper investigates the universal scaling behavior of entanglement entropy in 2D quantum dimer models at criticality, deriving a universal finite correction term and linking it to conformal field theory characteristics.

Contribution

It provides an exact calculation of the universal finite entanglement correction in 2D QDMs at criticality using the wave function and conformal boundary states.

Findings

Universal finite entanglement correction: $oxed{ ext{ln} R - 1/2}$

Entanglement spectrum described by conformal characters

Connection to quantum Brownian motion and string interactions

Abstract

We examine the scaling behavior of the entanglement entropy for the 2D quantum dimer model (QDM) at criticality and derive the universal finite sub-leading correction $\gamma_{QCP}$. We compute the value of $\gamma_{QCP}$ without approximation working directly with the wave function of a generalized 2D QDM at the Rokhsar-Kivelson QCP in the continuum limit. Using the replica approach, we construct the conformal boundary state corresponding to the cyclic identification of $n$-copies along the boundary of the observed region. We find that the universal finite term is $\gamma_{QCP}=\ln R-1/2$ where $R$ is the compactification radius of the bose field theory quantum Lifshitz model, the effective field theory of the 2D QDM at quantum criticality. We also demonstrated that the entanglement spectrum of the critical wave function on a large but finite region is described by the characters of the underlying conformal field theory. It is shown that this is formally related to the problems of quantum Brownian motion on $n$-dimensional lattices or equivalently a system of strings interacting with a brane containing a background electromagnetic field and can be written as an expectation value of a vertex operator.