Is entanglement a probe of confinement?

• DOI: 10.1007/jhep02(2021)147
• Publication Date: 2021-02-19T06:57:56Z
• Authors: Niko Jokela; Javier G. Subils
• Keywords: High Energy Physics - Theory; Quantum Physics; Chern-Simons Theories; FOS: Physical sciences; QC770-798; 01 natural sciences; Gauge-gravity correspondence; Physical sciences; High Energy Physics - Phenomenology; High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Nuclear and particle physics. Atomic energy. Radioactivity; 0103 physical sciences; Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Confinement

Abstract We study various entanglement measures in a one-parameter family of three-dimensional, strongly coupled Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons field theories by means of their dual supergravity descriptions. A generic field theory in this family possesses a mass gap but does not have a linear quark-antiquark potential. For the two limiting values of the parameter, the theories flow either to a fixed point or to a confining vacuum in the infrared. We show that entanglement measures are unable to discriminate confining theories from non-confining ones with a mass gap. This lends support on the idea that the phase transition of entanglement entropy at large-N can be caused just by the presence of a sizable scale in a theory. and just by itself should not be taken as a signal of confinement. We also examine flows passing close to a fixed point at intermediate energy scales and find that the holographic entanglement entropy, the mutual information, and the F-functions for strips and disks quantitatively match the conformal values for a range of energies.