Entanglement, Trace Anomaly and Confinement in QCD

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Main Author: Mamo, Kiminad A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Mamo, Kiminad A.
author_facet Mamo, Kiminad A.
contents We formulate confinement in QCD as an entropic surface phenomenon. Quark and gluon quantum information is localized on a transverse entangling two-sphere of radius $R_{EE}$; at this radius the QCD vacuum -- partitioned by a hadron into interior and exterior regions -- reaches its maximal entanglement entropy. Lattice-QCD determinations of the scalar (trace) gravitational form factors fix both $R_{EE}$ and the transverse trace-anomaly density $ρ_h(R_{EE})$, yielding a parameter-free slope $c_h = 8π^2 R_{EE}^2\,ρ_h(R_{EE})$ and a mechanical entropy $S_{EE}(y)=c_h\,y$ that grows linearly with rapidity $y$. The entropy gradient $\partial_R S_{EE}$ changes sign at $R_{EE}$: it pushes colored degrees of freedom outward for $r<R_{EE}$ and pulls them inward for $r>R_{EE}$, thereby localizing them on the codimension-2 entangling two-sphere $Σ_\perp = S^2_{R_{EE}}$ (which, in the infinite-momentum frame, projects onto the transverse plane), the 'information wall'. This provides a high-energy (large-$y$) entropic confinement diagnostic that complements -- rather than replaces -- Wilson's area-law criterion, which probes long-distance dynamics near the rest frame ($y\to 0$). Imposing unitarity on an entropic ansatz for the amplitude yields $σ(s)\propto y^δ$. World data favor $δ=2$ for elastic $pp\,(p\bar p)$ scattering and heavy-quark photoproduction, whereas $ϕ$ photoproduction favors a softer $δ=0.387$. All extracted cross sections remain well below the Froissart--Martin bound. These results provide a confinement criterion quantified directly from non-perturbative QCD inputs, unifying the trace anomaly, entanglement entropy, and high-energy scattering within a single quantitative framework.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_00176
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Entanglement, Trace Anomaly and Confinement in QCD
Mamo, Kiminad A.
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Nuclear Theory
We formulate confinement in QCD as an entropic surface phenomenon. Quark and gluon quantum information is localized on a transverse entangling two-sphere of radius $R_{EE}$; at this radius the QCD vacuum -- partitioned by a hadron into interior and exterior regions -- reaches its maximal entanglement entropy. Lattice-QCD determinations of the scalar (trace) gravitational form factors fix both $R_{EE}$ and the transverse trace-anomaly density $ρ_h(R_{EE})$, yielding a parameter-free slope $c_h = 8π^2 R_{EE}^2\,ρ_h(R_{EE})$ and a mechanical entropy $S_{EE}(y)=c_h\,y$ that grows linearly with rapidity $y$. The entropy gradient $\partial_R S_{EE}$ changes sign at $R_{EE}$: it pushes colored degrees of freedom outward for $r<R_{EE}$ and pulls them inward for $r>R_{EE}$, thereby localizing them on the codimension-2 entangling two-sphere $Σ_\perp = S^2_{R_{EE}}$ (which, in the infinite-momentum frame, projects onto the transverse plane), the 'information wall'. This provides a high-energy (large-$y$) entropic confinement diagnostic that complements -- rather than replaces -- Wilson's area-law criterion, which probes long-distance dynamics near the rest frame ($y\to 0$). Imposing unitarity on an entropic ansatz for the amplitude yields $σ(s)\propto y^δ$. World data favor $δ=2$ for elastic $pp\,(p\bar p)$ scattering and heavy-quark photoproduction, whereas $ϕ$ photoproduction favors a softer $δ=0.387$. All extracted cross sections remain well below the Froissart--Martin bound. These results provide a confinement criterion quantified directly from non-perturbative QCD inputs, unifying the trace anomaly, entanglement entropy, and high-energy scattering within a single quantitative framework.
title Entanglement, Trace Anomaly and Confinement in QCD
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Nuclear Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.00176