Minimax surfaces and the holographic entropy cone

Abstract

We study and prove properties of the minimax formulation of the HRT holographic entanglement entropy formula, which involves finding the maximal-area surface on a timelike hypersurface, or time-sheet, and then minimizing over the choice of time-sheet. In this formulation, the homology condition is imposed at the level of the spacetime: the homology regions are spacetime volumes rather spatial regions. We show in particular that the smallest minimax homology region is the entanglement wedge. The minimax prescription suggests a way to construct a graph model for time-dependent states, a weighted graph on which min cuts compute HRT entropies. The existence of a graph model would imply that HRT entropies obey the same inequalities as RT entropies, in other words that the RT and HRT entropy cones coincide. Our construction of a graph model relies on the time-sheets obeying a certain ``cooperating'' property, which we show holds in some examples and for which we give a partial proof; however, we also find scenarios where it may fail.