Entanglement transitions in holographic conformal interfaces
Abstract
We study entanglement transitions for pairs of disjoint intervals in two-dimensional holographic interface conformal field theories. We consider several holographic models with equal central charges on the two sides of the interface: thin-wall geometries with one and two branes, the Janus solution, and the super-Janus solution. We first discuss the finite interface contribution to the entanglement entropy of a single interval, distinguishing intervals that cross the interface from those that lie entirely on one side. We then use the mutual information to locate the transition between connected and disconnected Ryu--Takayanagi geodesic configurations for two intervals. When the interface lies between the two intervals, increasing the boundary entropy log g, which provides a measure of interface strength in the models considered here, generally decreases the critical separation at which the connected configuration ceases to dominate. When both intervals lie on the same side of the interface, the behavior is model dependent: the connected phase persists to larger separations in the Janus and super-Janus models, while the critical separation is unchanged in the thin-wall models. Thus, as diagnosed by the two-interval transition, the interface weakens correlations across the interface while preserving or enhancing correlations between regions on the same side. We also identify a universal ``Silver Blaze'' configuration, in which the interface lies inside one of the intervals and the transition occurs at the same location as in a CFT without an interface, independently of the interface parameters and of the holographic model. This universality follows from a cancellation between crossing and non-crossing interface contributions to the mutual information.
Related
- Energy Transmission Across Holographic Conformal Interfaces in General Dimensions
- Entanglement Requires Fluctuations at Conformal Interfaces
- Quantum criticality and mixed-state entanglement in holographic superconductor–insulator transitions
- Ultraviolet dissipation and defect OPE in bottom-up holographic interfaces
- When Conformal Interfaces Become Logarithmic
BibTeX
@misc{afxonidis2026entanglement,
title = {{Entanglement transitions in holographic conformal interfaces}},
author = {Evangelos Afxonidis and Rotem Berman and Ignacio Carreño Bolla and Shira Chapman and Carlos Hoyos and Osher Shoval},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.30369},
eprint = {2609.30369},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.30369},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Entanglement transitions in holographic conformal interfaces
AU - Evangelos Afxonidis
AU - Rotem Berman
AU - Ignacio Carreño Bolla
AU - Shira Chapman
AU - Carlos Hoyos
AU - Osher Shoval
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.30369
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.30369
AB - We study entanglement transitions for pairs of disjoint intervals in two-dimensional holographic interface conformal field theories. We consider several holographic models with equal central charges on the two sides of the interface: thin-wall geometries with one and two branes, the Janus solution, and the super-Janus solution. We first discuss the finite interface contribution to the entanglement entropy of a single interval, distinguishing intervals that cross the interface from those that lie entirely on one side. We then use the mutual information to locate the transition between connected and disconnected Ryu--Takayanagi geodesic configurations for two intervals. When the interface lies between the two intervals, increasing the boundary entropy log g, which provides a measure of interface strength in the models considered here, generally decreases the critical separation at which the connected configuration ceases to dominate. When both intervals lie on the same side of the interface, the behavior is model dependent: the connected phase persists to larger separations in the Janus and super-Janus models, while the critical separation is unchanged in the thin-wall models. Thus, as diagnosed by the two-interval transition, the interface weakens correlations across the interface while preserving or enhancing correlations between regions on the same side. We also identify a universal ``Silver Blaze'' configuration, in which the interface lies inside one of the intervals and the transition occurs at the same location as in a CFT without an interface, independently of the interface parameters and of the holographic model. This universality follows from a cancellation between crossing and non-crossing interface contributions to the mutual information.
ER -