Mixed-State Entanglement Measures in Topological Order

TL;DR

This paper investigates mixed-state entanglement in topologically ordered systems using CCNR and PT negativity measures, deriving universal expressions in field theories and lattice models, and analyzing the topological nature of entanglement contributions.

Contribution

It provides a general strategy to extract topological entanglement terms in mixed states and compares continuum and lattice results, highlighting the role of geometry and trisection points.

Findings

Universal expressions for entanglement measures in (2+1)D Chern-Simons theories

Lattice results include nonuniversal terms, complicating continuum-lattice comparison

Topological entanglement contributions are affected by local geometry at trisection points

Abstract

Quantum entanglement is a particularly useful characterization of topological orders which lack conventional order parameters. In this work, we study the entanglement in topologically ordered states between two arbitrary spatial regions, using two distinct mixed-state entanglement measures: the so-called "computable cross-norm or realignment" (CCNR) negativity, and the more well-known partial-transpose (PT) negativity. We first generally compute the entanglement measures: We obtain general expressions both in (2+1)D Chern-Simons field theories under certain simplifying conditions, and in the Pauli stabilizer formalism that applies to lattice models in all dimensions. While the field-theoretic results are expected to be topological and universal, the lattice results contain nontopological/nonuniversal terms as well. This raises the important problem of continuum-lattice comparison which is crucial for practical applications. When the two spatial regions and the remaining subsystem do not have triple intersection, we solve the problem by proposing a general strategy for extracting the topological and universal terms in both entanglement measures. Examples in the (2+1)D $Z_2$ toric code model are also presented. In the presence of trisection points, however, our result suggests that the subleading piece in the PT negativity is not topological and depends on the local geometry of the trisections, which is in harmonics with a technical subtlety in the field-theoretic calculation.