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The Maximal Entanglement Limit in Statistical and High Energy Physics

Quantum Physics 2026-04-21 v2 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Theory Nuclear Experiment Nuclear Theory

Abstract

These lectures advocate the idea that quantum entanglement provides a unifying foundation for both statistical physics and high-energy interactions. I argue that, at sufficiently long times or high energies, most quantum systems approach a Maximal Entanglement Limit (MEL) in which phases of quantum states become unobservable, reduced density matrices acquire a thermal form, and probabilistic descriptions emerge without invoking ergodicity or classical randomness. Within this framework, the emergence of probabilistic parton model, thermalization in the break-up of confining strings and in high-energy collisions, and the universal small xx behavior of structure functions arise as direct consequences of entanglement and geometry of high-dimensional Hilbert space.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.00405,
  title  = {The Maximal Entanglement Limit in Statistical and High Energy Physics},
  author = {Dmitri E. Kharzeev},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.00405},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

final published version; 70 pages, 11 figures; Lectures at the 65th Jubilee Cracow School of Theoretical Physics, Zakopane, Tatra mountains, Poland, June 14-21, 2025