Holographic Entanglement Entropy

This book provides a comprehensive overview of developments in the field of holographic entanglement entropy. Within the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence, it is shown how quantum entanglement is computed by the area of certain extremal surfaces. The general lessons one can learn from this connection are drawn out for quantum field theories, many-body physics, and quantum gravity. An overview of the necessary background material is provided together with a flavor of the exciting open questions that are currently being discussed. The book is divided into four main parts. In the first part, the concept of entanglement, and methods for computing it, in quantum field theories is reviewed. In the second part, an overview of the AdS/CFT correspondence is given and the holographic entanglement entropy prescription is explained. In the third part, the time-dependence of entanglement entropy in out-of-equilibrium systems, and applications to many body physics are explored using holographic methods. The last part focuses on the connection between entanglement and geometry. Known constraints on the holographic map, as well as, elaboration of entanglement being a fundamental building block of geometry are explained. The book is a useful resource for researchers and graduate students interested in string theory and holography, condensed matter and quantum information, as it tries to connect these different subjects linked by the common theme of quantum entanglement.

This book focuses on AdS3/CFT2, addressing different aspects of this correspondence in field theory and in gravity, including entanglement entropy, higher genus partition function, and conformal block. Holographic entanglement entropy is an important area in holographic and quantum information, which implies a deep relation between geometry and quantum entanglement. In this book, the authors use holographic entanglement entropy as a tool to investigate AdS3/CFT2. They study the entanglement entropy at high temperature in field theory and in holographics, and show that the results match each other in classical and one-loop order. In the AdS3/CFT2 system, they examine in detail the correspondence, exploring the higher genus partition function, entanglement entropy in a general system and conformal block, and they find good correspondence in field theory and gravity. The result strongly supports AdS3/CFT2 correspondence. In addition, they develop several important techniques in 2d CFT and 3d gravity, which also offer inspiration for other fields.

The first textbook on this important topic, for graduate students and researchers in particle and condensed matter physics.

A pedagogical and self-contained introduction to AdS/CFT correspondence aimed at graduate students and researchers across theoretical physics.

This concise and readable book addresses primarily readers with a background in classical statistical physics and introduces quantum mechanical notions as required. Conceived as a primer to bridge the gap between statistical physics and quantum information, it emphasizes concepts and thorough discussions of the fundamental notions and prepares the reader for deeper studies, not least through a selection of well chosen exercises.

The discovery of a duality between Anti-de Sitter spaces (AdS) and Conformal Field Theories (CFT) has led to major advances in our understanding of quantum field theory and quantum gravity. String theory methods and AdS/CFT correspondence maps provide new ways to think about difficult condensed matter problems. String theory methods based on the AdS/CFT correspondence allow us to transform problems so they have weak interactions and can be solved more easily. They can also help map problems to different descriptions, for instance mapping the description of a fluid using the Navier-Stokes equations to the description of an event horizon of a black hole using Einstein's equations. This textbook covers the applications of string theory methods and the mathematics of AdS/CFT to areas of condensed matter physics. Bridging the gap between string theory and condensed matter, this is a valuable textbook for students and researchers in both fields.