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Title: Universal entanglement entropy in two-dimensional conformal quantum critical points

Journal Article · · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
;  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois 61801-3080 (United States)
  2. Department of Physics and SLAC, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)
  3. Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)

We study the scaling behavior of the entanglement entropy of two-dimensional conformal quantum critical systems, i.e., systems with scale-invariant wave functions. They include two-dimensional generalized quantum dimer models on bipartite lattices and quantum loop models, as well as the quantum Lifshitz model and related gauge theories. We show that under quite general conditions, the entanglement entropy of a large and simply connected subsystem of an infinite system with a smooth boundary has a universal finite contribution, as well as scale-invariant terms for special geometries. The universal finite contribution to the entanglement entropy is computable in terms of the properties of the conformal structure of the wave function of these quantum critical systems. The calculation of the universal term reduces to a problem in boundary conformal field theory.

OSTI ID:
21192554
Journal Information:
Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 79, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.79.115421; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English