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On entanglement c-functions in confining gauge field theories
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Jani Kastikainen ,
Carlos Nunez ,
José Manuel Penín ,
Helime Ruotsalainen ,
Javier G. Subils
Journal of High Energy Physics, Volume: 2025, Issue: 11
Swansea University Author:
Carlos Nunez
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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/jhep11(2025)101
Abstract
Entanglement entropy has proven to be a powerful tool for probing renormalization group (RG) flows in quantum field theories, with c-functions derived from it serving as candidate measures of the effective number of degrees of freedom. While the monotonicity of such c-functions is well established i...
| Published in: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
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| ISSN: | 1029-8479 |
| Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2025
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70946 |
| Abstract: |
Entanglement entropy has proven to be a powerful tool for probing renormalization group (RG) flows in quantum field theories, with c-functions derived from it serving as candidate measures of the effective number of degrees of freedom. While the monotonicity of such c-functions is well established in many settings, notable exceptions occur in theories with a mass scale. In this work, we investigate entanglement c-functions in the context of holographic RG flows, with a particular focus on flows across dimensions induced by circle compactifications. We argue that in spacetime dimensions d ≥ 4, standard constructions of c-functions, which rely on higher derivatives of the entanglement entropy of either a ball or a cylinder, generically lead to non-monotonic behavior. Working with known dual geometries, we argue that the non-monotonicity stems not from any pathology or curvature singularity, but from a transition in the holographic Ryu-Takayanagi surface. In compactifications from four to three dimensions, we propose a modified construction that restores monotonicity in the infrared, although a fully monotonic ultraviolet extension remains elusive. Furthermore, motivated by entanglement entropy inequalities, we conjecture a bound on the cylinder entanglement c-function, which holds in all our examples. |
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| Keywords: |
AdS-CFT Correspondence; Confinement; Gauge-Gravity Correspondence |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
STFC (ST/Y509644-1, ST/X000648/1 and ST/T000813/1) |
| Issue: |
11 |