Entanglement corner dependence in two-dimensional systems: A tensor network perspective

Abstract

In continuous quantum field theories, the entanglement entropy of a subsystem with sharp corners on its boundary exhibits a universal corner-dependent contribution. We study this contribution through the lens of lattice discretization, and demonstrate that this corner dependence emerges naturally from the geometric structure of infinite projected entangled pair states (iPEPS) on discrete lattices. Using a rigorous counting argument, we show that the bond dimension of an iPEPS representation exhibits a corner-dependent term that matches the predicted term in gapped continuous systems. Crucially, we find that this correspondence only emerges when averaging over all possible lattice orientations and origin positions, revealing a fundamental requirement for properly discretizing continuous systems. Our results provide a geometric understanding of entanglement corner laws and establish a direct connection between continuum field theory predictions and the structure of discrete tensor network representations. We extend our analysis to gauge-invariant systems, where lattice corners crossed by the bipartition boundary contribute an additional corner-dependent term. These findings offer new insights into the relationship between entanglement in continuous and discrete quantum systems.