Entanglement entropy as a witness of the Aharonov-Bohm effect in QFT

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that entanglement entropy can serve as a witness for the Aharonov-Bohm effect in quantum field theory, showing how magnetic flux influences quantum entanglement in a cylindrical geometry.

Contribution

It introduces the use of entanglement entropy as a probe for the Aharonov-Bohm effect in quantum field theory with free scalar and Dirac fields on a cylinder.

Findings

Entanglement entropy varies with magnetic flux, indicating an Aharonov-Bohm-like effect.

The effect is observed for both scalar and Dirac fields.

Entanglement entropy can detect magnetic flux enclosed by a region in QFT.

Abstract

We study the dependence of the entanglement entropy with a magnetic flux, and show that the former quantity witnesses an Aharonov Bohm-like effect. In particular, we consider free charged scalar and Dirac fields living on a two dimensional cylinder and study how the entanglement entropy for a strip-like region on the surface of the cylinder is affected by a magnetic field enclosed by it.