The entanglement entropy of typical pure states and replica wormholes

Abstract

In a 1+1 dimensional QFT on a circle, we consider the von Neumann entanglement entropy of an interval for typical pure states. As a function of the interval size, we expect a Page curve in the entropy. We employ a specific ensemble average of pure states, and show how to write the ensemble-averaged Renyi entropy as a path integral on a singular replicated geometry. Assuming that the QFT is a conformal field theory with a gravitational dual, we then use the holographic dictionary to obtain the Page curve. For short intervals the thermal saddle is dominant. For large intervals (larger than half of the circle size), the dominant saddle connects the replicas in a non-trivial way using the singular boundary geometry. The result extends the `island conjecture' to a non-evaporating setting.