How compactness curbs entanglement growth in bosonic systems

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the divergence in entanglement growth in bosonic systems with zero modes is due to non-compactness, and that compact zero modes cap entanglement, with implications for cold atom quantum simulations.

Contribution

It reveals that compactness of zero modes prevents unbounded entanglement growth, contrasting with non-compact modes, and applies this insight to many-body and cold atom systems.

Findings

Compact zero modes cap entanglement entropy.

Non-compact zero modes lead to unbounded entanglement growth.

Implications for quantum field theories in cold atom experiments.

Abstract

Zero modes, understood here as degrees of freedom with vanishing confining frequency, play a central role in the nonequilibrium dynamics of bosonic systems. In Gaussian models, however, they lead to an unbounded, logarithmic growth of entanglement entropy. We show that this divergence is not an intrinsic property of zero modes themselves, but arises specifically for non-compact zero modes. Their non-compact configuration space allows unbounded spreading in position space, while their continuous spectra enable indefinite dephasing in momentum space. By contrast, compact zero modes in compact bosonic systems behave fundamentally differently: Spreading and dephasing are eventually halted, so that compactness caps the entanglement entropy at a finite value, making its dynamical role most transparent in the presence of a zero mode. We demonstrate this mechanism in a minimal setting by comparing two coupled harmonic oscillators with two coupled quantum rotors. We then show that the same physics persists in many-body systems by contrasting an N-site compact rotor chain with the non-compact harmonic chain. Finally, we relate these insights to ultra-cold-atom realizations of compact quantum field theories. In particular, we clarify when a compact free-boson (Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid) description is required and when the commonly used non-compact massless Klein-Gordon model breaks down. Even when the initial state is accurately captured by a non-compact Gaussian description, compactness ultimately governs the late-time quench dynamics, curbing entanglement growth rather than allowing a dynamical divergence.