How compactness curbs entanglement growth in bosonic systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Aimet, Stefan, Schmoll, Philipp, Eisert, Jens, Schmiedmayer, Jörg, Sotiriadis, Spyros
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Aimet, Stefan
Schmoll, Philipp
Eisert, Jens
Schmiedmayer, Jörg
Sotiriadis, Spyros
author_facet Aimet, Stefan
Schmoll, Philipp
Eisert, Jens
Schmiedmayer, Jörg
Sotiriadis, Spyros
contents Zero modes, understood here as degrees of freedom with vanishing confining frequency, play a central role in the nonequilibrium dynamics of bosonic systems. In Gaussian models, however, they lead to an unbounded, logarithmic growth of entanglement entropy. We show that this divergence is not an intrinsic property of zero modes themselves, but arises specifically for non-compact zero modes. Their non-compact configuration space allows unbounded spreading in position space, while their continuous spectra enable indefinite dephasing in momentum space. By contrast, compact zero modes in compact bosonic systems behave fundamentally differently: Spreading and dephasing are eventually halted, so that compactness caps the entanglement entropy at a finite value, making its dynamical role most transparent in the presence of a zero mode. We demonstrate this mechanism in a minimal setting by comparing two coupled harmonic oscillators with two coupled quantum rotors. We then show that the same physics persists in many-body systems by contrasting an N-site compact rotor chain with the non-compact harmonic chain. Finally, we relate these insights to ultra-cold-atom realizations of compact quantum field theories. In particular, we clarify when a compact free-boson (Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid) description is required and when the commonly used non-compact massless Klein-Gordon model breaks down. Even when the initial state is accurately captured by a non-compact Gaussian description, compactness ultimately governs the late-time quench dynamics, curbing entanglement growth rather than allowing a dynamical divergence.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_16775
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How compactness curbs entanglement growth in bosonic systems
Aimet, Stefan
Schmoll, Philipp
Eisert, Jens
Schmiedmayer, Jörg
Sotiriadis, Spyros
Quantum Physics
Quantum Gases
Zero modes, understood here as degrees of freedom with vanishing confining frequency, play a central role in the nonequilibrium dynamics of bosonic systems. In Gaussian models, however, they lead to an unbounded, logarithmic growth of entanglement entropy. We show that this divergence is not an intrinsic property of zero modes themselves, but arises specifically for non-compact zero modes. Their non-compact configuration space allows unbounded spreading in position space, while their continuous spectra enable indefinite dephasing in momentum space. By contrast, compact zero modes in compact bosonic systems behave fundamentally differently: Spreading and dephasing are eventually halted, so that compactness caps the entanglement entropy at a finite value, making its dynamical role most transparent in the presence of a zero mode. We demonstrate this mechanism in a minimal setting by comparing two coupled harmonic oscillators with two coupled quantum rotors. We then show that the same physics persists in many-body systems by contrasting an N-site compact rotor chain with the non-compact harmonic chain. Finally, we relate these insights to ultra-cold-atom realizations of compact quantum field theories. In particular, we clarify when a compact free-boson (Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid) description is required and when the commonly used non-compact massless Klein-Gordon model breaks down. Even when the initial state is accurately captured by a non-compact Gaussian description, compactness ultimately governs the late-time quench dynamics, curbing entanglement growth rather than allowing a dynamical divergence.
title How compactness curbs entanglement growth in bosonic systems
topic Quantum Physics
Quantum Gases
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16775