Symmetry, entanglement, and the $S$-matrix

Abstract

We present a general framework connecting global symmetries to the relativistic $S$-matrix through the lens of quantum information theory. Analyzing the 2-to-2 scattering of particles of any helicity, we systematically characterize relativistic scattering amplitudes as quantum gates in the bipartite space of states with a discrete quantum number. This formalism naturally recovers and significantly extends previous results on entanglement suppression of the $S$-matrix, providing a comprehensive approach for studying the emergence of symmetries from an information-theoretic perspective. As a central result, we show that constraining the $S$-matrix to the span of minimally entangling operators is equivalent to realizing an emergent $SU(N)$ global symmetry.