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From the Weyl anomaly to entropy of two-dimensional boundaries and defects

From the Weyl anomaly to entropy of two-dimensional boundaries and defects
From the Weyl anomaly to entropy of two-dimensional boundaries and defects
We study whether the relations between the Weyl anomaly, entanglement entropy (EE), and thermal entropy of a two-dimensional (2D) conformal field theory (CFT) extend to 2D boundaries of 3D CFTs, or 2D defects of D≥3 CFTs. The Weyl anomaly of a 2D boundary or defect defines two or three central charges, respectively. One of these, b, obeys a c-theorem, as in 2D CFT. For a 2D defect, we show that another, d2, interpreted as the defect's 'conformal dimension,' must be non-negative by the Averaged Null Energy Condition (ANEC). We show that the EE of a sphere centered on a planar defect has a logarithmic contribution from the defect fixed by b and d2. Using this and known holographic results, we compute b and d2 for 1/2-BPS surface operators in the maximally supersymmetric (SUSY) 4D and 6D CFTs. The results are consistent with b's c-theorem. Via free field and holographic examples we show that no universal 'Cardy formula' relates the central charges to thermal entropy.
1079-7114
Jensen, Kristan
1aa6bec5-5b04-4014-b008-ace89ed2884c
O'Bannon, Andrew
f0c14b6c-5b74-4319-8432-f9eba1e20cf3
Robinson, Brandon
56901315-b500-40af-9f3b-1b8cbbdfaffb
Rodgers, Ronald, James
50624100-db56-478e-9b46-0db869df1020
Jensen, Kristan
1aa6bec5-5b04-4014-b008-ace89ed2884c
O'Bannon, Andrew
f0c14b6c-5b74-4319-8432-f9eba1e20cf3
Robinson, Brandon
56901315-b500-40af-9f3b-1b8cbbdfaffb
Rodgers, Ronald, James
50624100-db56-478e-9b46-0db869df1020

Jensen, Kristan, O'Bannon, Andrew, Robinson, Brandon and Rodgers, Ronald, James (2019) From the Weyl anomaly to entropy of two-dimensional boundaries and defects. Physical Review Letters, 122, [241602]. (doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.241602).

Record type: Letter

Abstract

We study whether the relations between the Weyl anomaly, entanglement entropy (EE), and thermal entropy of a two-dimensional (2D) conformal field theory (CFT) extend to 2D boundaries of 3D CFTs, or 2D defects of D≥3 CFTs. The Weyl anomaly of a 2D boundary or defect defines two or three central charges, respectively. One of these, b, obeys a c-theorem, as in 2D CFT. For a 2D defect, we show that another, d2, interpreted as the defect's 'conformal dimension,' must be non-negative by the Averaged Null Energy Condition (ANEC). We show that the EE of a sphere centered on a planar defect has a logarithmic contribution from the defect fixed by b and d2. Using this and known holographic results, we compute b and d2 for 1/2-BPS surface operators in the maximally supersymmetric (SUSY) 4D and 6D CFTs. The results are consistent with b's c-theorem. Via free field and holographic examples we show that no universal 'Cardy formula' relates the central charges to thermal entropy.

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1812.08745 - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 10 May 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 June 2019
Published date: 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 430893
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/430893
ISSN: 1079-7114
PURE UUID: 90168d5b-0db8-42e9-b017-1de73fa02406
ORCID for Andrew O'Bannon: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7862-783X
ORCID for Ronald, James Rodgers: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4826-6540

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Date deposited: 17 May 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:51

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Contributors

Author: Kristan Jensen
Author: Andrew O'Bannon ORCID iD
Author: Brandon Robinson
Author: Ronald, James Rodgers ORCID iD

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