Abstract
In a quantum critical system, the entanglement entropy across a boundary with a corner contains a subleading logarithmic scaling term with a universal coefficient. It has been conjectured that this coefficient is, to leading order, proportional to the number of field components in the associated continuum field theory. Using density matrix renormalization group calculations combined with the powerful numerical linked cluster expansion technique, we confirm this scenario for the Wilson-Fisher fixed point in a striking way, through direct calculation at the quantum critical points of two very different microscopic models. The value of this corner coefficient is, to within our numerical precision, twice the coefficient of the Ising fixed point. Our results add to the growing body of evidence that this universal term in the Rényi entanglement entropy reflects the number of low-energy degrees of freedom in a system, even for strongly interacting theories.
- Received 25 September 2014
- Revised 17 November 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.235106
©2014 American Physical Society