Thermalization of randomly coupled SYK models

We investigate the thermalization of Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (SYK) models coupled via random interactions following quenches from the perspective of entanglement. Previous studies have shown that when a system of two SYK models coupled by random two-body terms is quenched from the thermofield double state with sufficiently low effective temperature, the Rényi entropies do not saturate to the expected thermal values in the large-N limit. Using numerical large-N methods, we first show that the Rényi entropies in a pair SYK models coupled by two-body terms can thermalize, if quenched from a state with sufficiently high effective temperature, and hence exhibit state-dependent thermalization. In contrast, SYK models coupled by single-body terms appear to always thermalize. We provide evidence that the subthermal behavior in the former system is likely a large-N artifact by repeating the quench for finite N and finding that the saturation value of the Rényi entropy extrapolates to the expected thermal value in the N → ∞ limit. Finally, as a finer grained measure of thermalization, we compute the late-time spectral form factor of the reduced density matrix after the quench. While a single SYK dot exhibits perfect agreement with random matrix theory, both the quadratically and quartically coupled SYK models exhibit slight deviations.

On Rényi Permutation Entropy

Among various modifications of the permutation entropy defined as the Shannon entropy of the ordinal pattern distribution underlying a system, a variant based on Rényi entropies was considered in a few papers. This paper discusses the relatively new concept of Rényi permutation entropies in dependence of non-negative real number q parameterizing the family of Rényi entropies and providing the Shannon entropy for q=1. Its relationship to Kolmogorov–Sinai entropy and, for q=2, to the recently introduced symbolic correlation integral are touched.

Entanglement dynamics in Rule 54: Exact results and quasiparticle picture

We study the entanglement dynamics generated by quantum quenches in the quantum cellular automaton Rule 54. We consider the evolution from a recently introduced class of solvable initial states. States in this class relax (locally) to a one-parameter family of Gibbs states and the thermalisation dynamics of local observables can be characterised exactly by means of an evolution in space. Here we show that the latter approach also gives access to the entanglement dynamics and derive exact formulas describing the asymptotic linear growth of all Rényi entropies in the thermodynamic limit and their eventual saturation for finite subsystems. While in the case of von Neumann entropy we recover exactly the predictions of the quasiparticle picture, we find no physically meaningful quasiparticle description for other Rényi entropies. Our results apply to both homogeneous and inhomogeneous quenches.

Symmetry-resolved entanglement entropy in Wess-Zumino-Witten models

We consider the problem of the decomposition of the Rényi entanglement entropies in theories with a non-abelian symmetry by doing a thorough analysis of Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) models. We first consider SU(2)k as a case study and then generalise to an arbitrary non-abelian Lie group. We find that at leading order in the subsystem size L the entanglement is equally distributed among the different sectors labelled by the irreducible representation of the associated algebra. We also identify the leading term that breaks this equipartition: it does not depend on L but only on the dimension of the representation. Moreover, a log log L contribution to the Rényi entropies exhibits a universal prefactor equal to half the dimension of the Lie group.

Time-independence of gravitational Rényi entropies and unitarity in quantum gravity

The Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi surface γHRT computing the entropy S(D) of a domain of dependence D on an asymptotically AdS boundary is known to be causally inaccessible from D. We generalize this gravitational result to higher replica numbers n > 1 by considering the replica-invariant surfaces (aka ‘splitting surfaces’) γ of real-time replica-wormhole saddle-points computing Rényi entropies Sn(D) and showing that there is a sense in which D must again be causally inaccessible from γ when the saddle preserves both replica and conjugation symmetry. This property turns out to imply the Sn(D) to be independent of any choice of any Cauchy surface ΣD for D, and also that the Sn(D) are independent of the choice of boundary sources within D. This is a key hallmark of unitary evolution in any dual field theory. Furthermore, from the bulk point of view it adds to the evidence that time evolution of asymptotic observables in quantum gravity is implemented by a unitary operator in each baby universe superselection sector. Though we focus here on pure Einstein-Hilbert gravity and its Kaluza-Klein reductions, we expect the argument to extend to any two-derivative theory who satisfies the null convergence condition. We consider both classical saddles and the effect of back-reaction from quantum corrections.

Ergodic equilibration of Rényi entropies and replica wormholes

We study the behavior of Rényi entropies for pure states from standard assumptions about chaos in the high-energy spectrum of the Hamiltonian of a many-body quantum system. We compute the exact long-time averages of Rényi entropies and show that the quantum noise around these values is exponentially suppressed in the microcanonical entropy. For delocalized states over the microcanonical band, the long-time average approximately reproduces the equilibration proposal of H. Liu and S. Vardhan, with extra structure arising at the order of non-planar permutations. We analyze the equilibrium approximation for AdS/CFT systems describing black holes in equilibrium in a box. We extend our analysis to the situation of an evaporating black hole, and comment on the possible gravitational description of the new terms in our approximation.

Soft photon radiation and entanglement

We study the entanglement between soft and hard particles produced in generic scattering processes in QED. The reduced density matrix for the hard particles, obtained via tracing over the entire spectrum of soft photons, is shown to have a large eigenvalue, which governs the behavior of the Renyi entropies and of the non-analytic part of the entanglement entropy at low orders in perturbation theory. The leading perturbative entanglement entropy is logarithmically IR divergent. The coefficient of the IR divergence exhibits certain universality properties, irrespectively of the dressing of the asymptotic charged particles and the detailed properties of the initial state. In a certain kinematical limit, the coefficient is proportional to the cusp anomalous dimension in QED. For Fock basis computations associated with two-electron scattering, we derive an exact expression for the large eigenvalue of the density matrix in terms of hard scattering amplitudes, which is valid at any finite order in perturbation theory. As a result, the IR logarithmic divergences appearing in the expressions for the Renyi and entanglement entropies persist at any finite order of the perturbative expansion. To all orders, however, the IR logarithmic divergences exponentiate, rendering the large eigenvalue of the density matrix IR finite. The all-orders Renyi entropies (per unit time, per particle flux), which are shown to be proportional to the total inclusive cross-section in the initial state, are also free of IR divergences. The entanglement entropy, on the other hand, retains non-analytic, logarithmic behavior with respect to the size of the box (which provides the IR cutoff) even to all orders in perturbation theory.

Concentration functions and entropy bounds for discrete log-concave distributions

Two-sided bounds are explored for concentration functions and Rényi entropies in the class of discrete log-concave probability distributions. They are used to derive certain variants of the entropy power inequalities.

Analytic critical points of charged Rényi entropies from hyperbolic black holes

We analytically study phase transitions of holographic charged Rényi entropies in two gravitational systems dual to the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory at finite density and zero temperature. The first system is the Reissner-Nordström-AdS5 black hole, which has finite entropy at zero temperature. The second system is a charged dilatonic black hole in AdS5, which has zero entropy at zero temperature. Hyperbolic black holes are employed to calculate the Rényi entropies with the entangling surface being a sphere. We perturb each system by a charged scalar field, and look for a zero mode signaling the instability of the extremal hyperbolic black hole. Zero modes as well as the leading order of the full retarded Green’s function are analytically solved for both systems, in contrast to previous studies in which only the IR (near horizon) instability was analytically treated.