English

Entanglement entropy evolution during gravitational collapse

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2025-11-12 v1 High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of the ground state entanglement entropy for a discretized scalar field propagating within the Oppenheimer-Snyder collapse metric. Starting from a well-controlled initial configuration, we follow the system as it evolves toward the formation of a horizon and, eventually, a singularity. Our approach employs an Ermakov-like equation to determine the time-dependent ground state of the field and calculates the resulting entanglement entropy by tracing out the degrees of freedom inside a spherical region within the matter sphere. We find that the entanglement entropy exhibits nontrivial scaling and time dependence during collapse. Close to the horizon, the entropy can deviate from the simple area law, reflecting the rapid changes in geometry and field configuration. Although the model is idealized, these results provide insights into the generation and scaling of entanglement in the presence of realistic, dynamically evolving gravitational fields.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2502.14797,
  title  = {Entanglement entropy evolution during gravitational collapse},
  author = {Alessio Belfiglio and Orlando Luongo and Stefano Mancini and Sebastiano Tomasi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.14797},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

18 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:51:44.443Z