Entanglement entropy through conformal interfaces in the 2D Ising model

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how conformal interfaces affect entanglement entropy in the 2D Ising model, revealing a defect-dependent logarithmic scaling and extending insights to supersymmetric cases.

Contribution

It introduces a method to compute entanglement entropy across conformal defects in the 2D Ising model, highlighting the defect's influence on entropy scaling.

Findings

Entanglement entropy exhibits logarithmic scaling with system size.

The prefactor of the logarithm depends on the defect's transmission coefficient.

Results extend to supersymmetric cases.

Abstract

We consider the entanglement entropy for the 2D Ising model at the conformal fixed point in the presence of interfaces. More precisely, we investigate the situation where the two subsystems are separated by a defect line that preserves conformal invariance. Using the replica trick, we compute the entanglement entropy between the two subsystems. We observe that the entropy, just like in the case without defects, shows a logarithmic scaling behavior with respect to the size of the system. Here, the prefactor of the logarithm depends on the strength of the defect encoded in the transmission coefficient. We also comment on the supersymmetric case.