Entanglement Entropy is Elastic Cross Section

Abstract

We present universal relations between entanglement entropy, which quantifies the quantum correlation between subsystems, and the elastic cross section, which is the primary observable for high energy particle scattering, by employing a careful formulation of wave packets for the incoming particles. For 2-to-2 elastic scattering with no initial entanglement and subdividing the system along particle labels, we show that both the R\'enyi and Tsallis entropies in the final states are directly proportional to the elastic cross section in unit of the transverse size for the initial wave packets, which is then interpreted as the elastic scattering probability. The relations do not depend on the underlying dynamics of the quantum field theory and are valid to all orders in coupling strengths. Furthermore, computing quantum correlations between momentum and non-kinematic data leads to entanglement entropies expressed as various semi-inclusive elastic cross sections. Our result gives rise to a novel ``area law'' for entanglement entropy in a two-body system.