Thermalization of Gauge Theories from their Entanglement Spectrum

Abstract:

Using dual theories embedded into a larger unphysical Hilbert space along entanglement cuts, we study the entanglement structure of $Z_2$ lattice gauge theory in ($2+1$) spacetime dimensions. We demonstrate Li and Haldane’s conjecture, and show consistency of the entanglement Hamiltonian with the Bisognano-Wichmann theorem. Studying nonequilibrium dynamics after a quench, we provide an extensive description of thermalization in $Z_2$ gauge theory which proceeds in a characteristic sequence: Maximization of the Schmidt rank and spreading of level repulsion at early times, self-similar evolution with scaling coefficients $\alpha =0.8\pm 0.2$ and $\beta =0.0\pm 0.1$ at intermediate times, and finally thermal saturation of the von Neumann entropy.

N. Müller, T.V. Zache, R. Ott, “Thermalization of Gauge Theories from their Entanglement Spectrum”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 011601 (2022).

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.011601

Related to Project B03, A06