Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026

Quantification of Information Encoded by Gene Expression Levels During Lifespan Modulation Under Broad-range Dietary Restriction in C. elegans
Published on: August 16, 2017
Universal behavior of the Shannon mutual information of critical quantum chains
1Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 369, 13560-970 São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil.
Abstract:
We consider the Shannon mutual information of subsystems of critical quantum chains in their ground states. Our results indicate a universal leading behavior for large subsystem sizes. Moreover, as happens with the entanglement entropy, its finite-size behavior yields the conformal anomaly c of the underlying conformal field theory governing the long-distance physics of the quantum chain. We study analytically a chain of coupled harmonic oscillators and numerically the Q-state Potts models (Q=2, 3, and 4), the XXZ quantum chain, and the spin-1 Fateev-Zamolodchikov model. The Shannon mutual information is a quantity easily computed, and our results indicate that for relatively small lattice sizes, its finite-size behavior already detects the universality class of quantum critical behavior.
Related Concept Videos
Propagation of Uncertainty from Random Error
Propagation of Uncertainty from Systematic Error
Absolute Entropies and the Third Law of Thermodynamics
The Entropy as a State Function
The Uncertainty Principle
Third Law of Thermodynamics
