Shape dependence of mutual information in the OPE limit: linear responses

Abstract

Mutual information serves as an important measure of correlation between subsystem components. In the framework of quantum field theories (QFTs) they have better regulated UV behavior than entanglement entropy, and thus provide more direct access to universal aspects of entanglement structures. In this paper, we study the linear responses under shape deformation of the mutual information in the conformal field theory (CFT) vacuum between two spheres of radius $R$ separated by large distance $L\gg R$ or conformally equivalent configurations. Our calculations make use of the previous OPE results for mutual information \cite{Faulkner2016Aug} and the associated modular Hamiltonian \cite{Faulkner2021Aug}. In particular, we apply the entanglement first law to compute the linear responses of mutual information under shape deformation on one of the spheres. We find that the linear responses exhibit a high degree of universality for a selected class of OPE contributions. We demonstrate that there is a "little group" of symmetries associated with the set-up. Our result implies that the spherical mutual information is extremal over shape deformations of non-zero modes under the symmetry group.