Bipartite entanglement and surface criticality

Abstract: Recent works on the scaling behaviors of entanglement entropy at the SO(5) deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP) sparked a huge controversy. Different bipartitions gave out totally different conclusions for whether the DQCP is a unitary conformal field theory. In this work, we connect two previously disconnected fields -- the many-body entanglement and the surface criticality -- to reveal the behaviors of entanglement entropy in various bipartite scenarios, and point out what kind of bipartition truly reflects the criticality of the bulk. We have found that the correspondence between the entanglement spectrum and the edge energy spectrum still persists even at a bulk-gapless point (e.g. critical point), thereby influencing the behavior of entanglement entropy.