Speaker
Dr
Stefan Floerchinger
(Heidelberg U.)
Description
The entanglement entropy associated to finite spatial regions for Gaussian states in quantum field theory is characterized in terms of local correlation functions on space-like Cauchy hypersurfaces. The framework is applied to explore an expanding light cone geometry in the particular case of the Schwinger model for quantum electrodynamics in 1+1 space-time dimensions. We observe that the entanglement entropy becomes extensive in rapidity at early times and that the corresponding local reduced density matrix is a thermal density matrix for excitations around a coherent field with a time dependent temperature. Since the Schwinger model successfully describes many features of multiparticle production in e+e− collisions, our results provide an attractive explanation in this framework for the apparent thermal nature of multiparticle production even in the absence of significant final state scattering.
Primary author
Dr
Stefan Floerchinger
(Heidelberg U.)
