Null wave front as Ryu-Takayanagi surface

Abstract: The Ryu-Takayanagi formula provides the entanglement entropy of quantum field theory as an area of the minimal surface (Ryu-Takayangi surface) in a corresponding gravity theory. There are some attempts to understand the formula as a flow rather than as a surface. In this paper, we propose that null rays emitted from the AdS boundary can be regarded as such a flow. In particular, we show that in spherical symmetric static spacetimes with a negative cosmological constant, wave fronts of null geodesics from a point on the AdS boundary become extremal surfaces and therefore they can be regarded as the Ryu-Takayanagi surfaces. In addition, based on the viewpoint of flow, we propose a wave optical formula to calculate the holographic entanglement entropy.