Entanglement Entropy in Ground States of Long-Range Fermionic Systems

Abstract

We study the scaling of ground state entanglement entropy of various free fermionic models on one dimensional lattices, where the hopping and pairing terms decay as a power law. We seek to understand the scaling of entanglement entropy in generic models as the exponent of the power law $\alpha$ is varied. We ask if there exists a common $\alpha_{c}$ across different systems governing the transition to area law scaling found in local systems. We explore several examples numerically and argue that when applicable, the scaling of entanglement entropy in long-range models is constrained by predictions from the low-energy theory. In contrast, disordered models and models without a continuum limit show fractal scaling of entanglement approaching volume-law behavior as $\alpha$ approaches zero. These general features are expected to persist on turning on interactions.