English

Defect Relative Entropy

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-01-30 v1 Statistical Mechanics Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Physics

Abstract

We introduce the concept of \textit{defect relative entropy} as a measure of distinguishability within the space of defects. We compute the defect relative entropy for conformal/topological defects, deriving a universal formula in conformal field theories (CFTs) on a circle. This formula reduces to the Kullback-Leibler divergence. Furthermore, we provide a detailed expression of the defect relative entropy for diagonal CFTs with specific topological defect choices, utilizing the theory's modular S\mathcal{S} matrix. We also present a general formula for the \textit{ defect sandwiched R\'enyi relative entropy} and the \textit{defect fidelity}. Through explicit calculations in specific models, including the Ising model, the tricritical Ising model, and the su^(2)k\widehat{su}(2)_{k} WZW model, we have made an intriguing finding: zero defect relative entropy between reduced density matrices associated with certain topological defect. Notably, we introduce the concept of the \textit{defect relative sector}, representing the set of topological defects with zero defect relative entropy.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.21875,
  title  = {Defect Relative Entropy},
  author = {Mostafa Ghasemi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.21875},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

6 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:25:57.189Z