arXiv subjects

Massimiliano Rota

Publications and source records attributed to Massimiliano Rota.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

On the construction of graph models realizing given entropy vectors

We present an efficient algorithm for the construction of a holographic simple tree graph model that realizes a given entropy vector, subject to a specific ``chordality'' condition first introduced in arXiv:2412.18018. We further develop the toolkit of the correlation hypergraph, particularly in relation to coarse-graining and fine-graining of subsystems. We then use these techniques to take the first steps towards the generalization of this new algorithm to arbitrary (not necessarily simple) holographic tree graph models, and the ``detection'' of unrealizability of an entropy vector independently from the knowledge of holographic entropy inequalities.

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arXiv2025

Necessary and sufficient conditions for entropy vector realizability by holographic simple tree graph models

We prove that the ``chordality condition'', which was established in arXiv:2412.18018 as a necessary condition for an entropy vector to be realizable by a holographic simple tree graph model, is also sufficient. The proof is constructive, demonstrating that the algorithm introduced in arXiv:2512.18702 for constructing a simple tree graph model realization of a given entropy vector that satisfies this condition always succeeds. We emphasize that these results hold for an arbitrary number of parties, and, given that any entropy vector realizable by a holographic graph model can also be realized, at least approximately, by a stabilizer state, they highlight how techniques originally developed in holography can provide broad insights into entanglement and information theory more generally, and in particular, into the structure of the stabilizer and quantum entropy cones. Moreover, if the strong form of the conjecture from arXiv:2204.00075 holds, namely, if all holographic entropy vectors can be realized by (not necessarily simple) tree graph models, then the result of this work demonstrates that the essential data that encodes the structure of the holographic entropy cone for an arbitrary number of parties, is the set of ``chordal'' extreme rays of the subadditivity cone.

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arXiv2025

Correlation hypergraph: a new representation of a quantum marginal independence pattern

We continue the study of the quantum marginal independence problem, namely the question of which faces of the subadditivity cone are achievable by quantum states. We introduce a new representation of the patterns of marginal independence (PMIs, corresponding to faces of the subadditivity cone) based on certain correlation hypergraphs, and demonstrate that this representation provides a more efficient description of a PMI, and consequently of the set of PMIs which are compatible with strong subadditivity. We then show that these correlation hypergraphs generalize to arbitrary quantum systems the well known relation between positivity of mutual information and connectivity of entanglement wedges in holography, and further use this representation to derive new results about the combinatorial structure of collections of simultaneously decorrelated subsystems specifying SSA-compatible PMIs. In the context of holography, we apply these techniques to derive a necessary condition for the realizability of entropy vectors by simple tree graph models, which were conjectured in arXiv:2204.00075 to provide the building blocks of the holographic entropy cone. Since this necessary condition is formulated in terms of chordality of a certain graph, it can be tested efficiently.

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arXiv2025

Algorithmic construction of SSA-compatible extreme rays of the subadditivity cone and the ${\sf N}=6$ solution

We compute the set of all extreme rays of the 6-party subadditivity cone that are compatible with strong subadditivity. In total, we identify 208 new (genuine 6-party) orbits, 52 of which violate at least one known holographic entropy inequality. For the remaining 156 orbits, which do not violate any such inequalities, we construct holographic graph models for 150 of them. For the final 6 orbits, it remains an open question whether they are holographic. Consistent with the strong form of the conjecture in arXiv:2204.00075, 148 of these graph models are trees. However, 2 of the graphs contain a "bulk cycle", leaving open the question of whether equivalent models with tree topology exist, or if these extreme rays are counterexamples to the conjecture. The paper includes a detailed description of the algorithm used for the computation, which is presented in a general framework and can be applied to any situation involving a polyhedral cone defined by a set of linear inequalities and a partial order among them to find extreme rays corresponding to down-sets in this poset.

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arXiv2024

Inner bounding the quantum entropy cone with subadditivity and subsystem coarse grainings

We show via explicit construction that all the extreme rays of both the three-party quantum entropy cone and the four-party stabilizer entropy cone can be obtained from subsystem coarse grainings of specific higher-party quantum states, namely extreme states characterized by saturating a (non-trivial) maximal set of instances of subadditivity. This suggests that the study of the ``subadditivity cone'', and the set of its extreme rays realizable in quantum mechanics, provides a powerful tool for deriving inner bounds for the quantum and stabilizer entropy cones, as well as constraints on new inequalities for the von Neumann entropy.

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arXiv2023

On the relation between the subadditivity cone and the quantum entropy cone

Given a multipartite quantum system, what are the possible ways to impose mutual independence among some subsystems, and the presence of correlations among others, such that there exists a quantum state which satisfies these demands? This question and the related notion of a \textit{pattern of marginal independence} (PMI) were introduced in arXiv:1912.01041, and then argued in arXiv:2204.00075 to be central in the derivation of the holographic entropy cone. Here we continue the general information theoretic analysis of the PMIs allowed by \textit{strong subadditivity} (SSA) initiated in arXiv:1912.01041. We show how the computation of these PMIs simplifies when SSA is replaced by a weaker constraint, dubbed \textit{Klein's condition} (KC), which follows from the necessary condition for the saturation of subadditivity (SA). Formulating KC in the language of partially ordered sets, we show that the set of PMIs compatible with KC forms a lattice, and we investigate several of its structural properties. One of our main results is the identification of a specific lower dimensional face of the SA cone that contains on its boundary all the extreme rays (beyond Bell pairs) that can possibly be realized by quantum states. We verify that for four or more parties, KC is strictly weaker than SSA, but nonetheless the PMIs compatible with SSA can easily be derived from the KC-compatible ones. For the special case of 1-dimensional PMIs, we conjecture that KC and SSA are in fact equivalent. To make the presentation self-contained, we review the key ingredients from lattice theory as needed.

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arXiv2023

A gap between holographic and quantum mechanical extreme rays of the subadditivity cone

We show via explicit construction that for six or more parties, there exist extreme rays of the subadditivity cone that can be realized by quantum states, but not by holographic states. This is a counterexample to a conjecture first formulated in arXiv:2204.00075, and implies the existence of deep holographic constraints that restrict the allowed patterns of independence among various subsystems beyond the universal quantum mechanical restrictions.

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arXiv2022

The holographic entropy cone from marginal independence

The holographic entropy cone characterizes the relations between entanglement entropies for a spatial partitioning of the boundary spacetime of a holographic CFT in any state describing a classical bulk geometry. We argue that the holographic entropy cone, for an arbitrary number of parties, can be reconstructed from more fundamental data determined solely by subadditivity of quantum entropy. We formulate certain conjectures about graph models of holographic entanglement, for which we provide strong evidence, and rigorously prove that they all imply that such a reconstruction is possible. Our conjectures (except only for the weakest) further imply that the necessary data is remarkably simple. In essence, all one needs to know to reconstruct the holographic entropy cone, is a certain subset of the extreme rays of this simpler "subadditivity cone", namely those which can be realized in holography. This recasting of the bewildering entanglement structure of geometric states into primal building blocks paves the way to distilling the essence of holography for the emergence of a classical bulk spacetime.

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arXiv2019

The quantum marginal independence problem

We investigate whether the presence or absence of correlations between subsystems of an N-partite quantum system is solely constrained by the non-negativity and monotonicity of mutual information. We argue that this relatively simple question is in fact very deep because it is sensitive to the structure of the set of N-partite states. It can be informed by inequalities satisfied by the von Neumann entropy, but has the advantage of being more tractable. We exemplify this by deriving the explicit solution for N=4, despite having limited knowledge of the entropic inequalities. Furthermore, we describe how this question can be tailored to the analysis of more specialized classes of states such as classical probability distributions, stabilizer states, and geometric states in the holographic gauge/gravity duality.

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arXiv2018

The holographic entropy arrangement

We develop a convenient framework for characterizing multipartite entanglement in composite systems, based on relations between entropies of various subsystems. This continues the program initiated in arXiv:1808.07871, of using holography to effectively recast the geometric problem into an algebraic one. We prove that, for an arbitrary number of parties, our procedure identifies a finite set of entropic information quantities that we conveniently represent geometrically in the form of an arrangement of hyperplanes. This leads us to define the holographic entropy arrangement, whose algebraic and combinatorial aspects we explore in detail. Using the framework, we derive three new information quantities for four parties, as well as a new infinite family for any number of parties. A natural construct from the arrangement is the holographic entropy polyhedron which captures holographic entropy inequalities describing the physically allowed region of entropy space. We illustrate how to obtain the polyhedron by winnowing down the arrangement through a sieve to pick out candidate sign-definite information quantities. Comparing the polyhedron with the holographic entropy cone, we find perfect agreement for 4 parties and corroborating evidence for the conjectured 5-party entropy cone. We work with explicit configurations in arbitrary (time-dependent) states leading to both simple derivations and an intuitive picture of the entanglement pattern.

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arXiv2018

Holographic entropy relations

We develop a framework for the derivation of new information theoretic quantities which are natural from a holographic perspective. We demonstrate the utility of our techniques by deriving the tripartite information (the quantity associated to monogamy of mutual information) using a set of abstract arguments involving bulk extremal surfaces. Our arguments rely on formal manipulations of surfaces and not on local surgery or explicit computation of entropies through the holographic entanglement entropy prescriptions. As an application, we show how to derive a family of similar information quantities for an arbitrary number of parties. The present work establishes the foundation of a broader program that aims at the understanding of the entanglement structures of geometric states for an arbitrary number of parties. We stress that our method is completely democratic with respect to bulk geometries and is equally valid in static and dynamical situations. While rooted in holography, we expect that our construction will provide a useful characterization of multipartite correlations in quantum field theories.

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arXiv2018

Gravity from micro-equilibration

We suggest a mechanism for the emergence of classical dynamical spacetime from an underlying quantum gravitational system. This is an example of a more general process, which we name micro-equilibration, and which can be thought of as local thermalization of entanglement. Applied in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we propose that this dynamical process underlies generic evolution towards CFT states whose gravitational dual describes smooth bulk geometries. Hence contrary to common expectation, such 'geometric' CFT states are in fact typical in this sense. Correspondingly they can be characterized by a specific universal entanglement structure resulting from micro-equilibration of a generic quantum state.

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arXiv2017

Maximin is Not Enough

The RT formula for static spacetimes arising in the AdS/CFT correspondence satisfies inequalities that are not yet proven in the case of the HRT formula, which applies to general dynamical spacetimes. Wall's maximin construction is the only known technique for extending inequalities of holographic entanglement entropy from the static to dynamical case. We show that this method currently has no further utility when dealing with inequalities for five or fewer regions. Despite this negative result, we propose the validity of one new inequality for covariant holographic entanglement entropy for five regions. This inequality, while not maximin provable, is much weaker than many of the inequalities satisfied by the RT formula and should therefore be easier to prove. If it is valid, then there is strong evidence that holographic entanglement entropy plays a role in general spacetimes including those that arise in cosmology. Our new inequality is obtained by the assumption that the HRT formula satisfies every known balanced inequality obeyed by the Shannon entropies of classical probability distributions. This is a property that the RT formula has been shown to possess and which has been previously conjectured to hold for quantum mechanics in general.

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arXiv2017

Handlebody phases and the polyhedrality of the holographic entropy cone

The notion of a holographic entropy cone has recently been introduced and it has been proven that this cone is polyhedral. However, the original definition was fully geometric and did not strictly require a holographic duality. We introduce a new definition of the cone, insisting that the geometries used for its construction should be dual to states of a CFT. As a result, the polyhedrality of this holographic cone does not immediately follow. A numerical evaluation of the Euclidean action for the geometries that realize extremal rays of the original cone indicates that these are subdominant bulk phases of natural path integrals. The result challenges the expectation that such geometries are in fact dual to CFT states.

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arXiv2017

Quantum information/entanglement transfer rates between subsystems

The size of quantum information -- or entanglement -- transfer rates between subsystems is a generic question in problems ranging from decoherence in quantum computation and sensing, to quantum underpinnings of thermodynamics, to the behavior of quantum black holes. We investigate such rates for given couplings between subsystems, for sufficiently random subsystem evolution, and find evidence for a conjectured relation of these rates to the size of the couplings. This provides a direct connection between entanglement transfer and the microphysical couplings responsible for it.

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arXiv2016

Tripartite information of highly entangled states

Holographic systems require monogamous mutual information for validity of semiclassical geometry. This is encoded by the sign of the tripartite information ($I3$). We investigate the behaviour of $I3$ for all partitionings of systems in states which are highly entangled in a multipartite or bipartite sense. In the case of multipartite entanglement we propose an algorithmic construction that we conjecture can be used to build local maxima of $I3$ for any partitioning. In case of bipartite entanglement we classify the possible values of $I3$ for perfect states and investigate, in some examples, the effect on its sign definiteness due to deformations of the states. Finally we comment on the proposal of using $I3$ as a parameter of scrambling, arguing that in general its average over qubits permutations could be a more sensible measure.

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arXiv2015

Positivity, negativity, and entanglement

We explore properties of the universal terms in the entanglement entropy and logarithmic negativity in 4d CFTs, aiming to clarify the ways in which they behave like the analogous entanglement measures in quantum mechanics. We show that, unlike entanglement entropy in finite-dimensional systems, the sign of the universal part of entanglement entropy is indeterminate. In particular, if and only if the central charges obey $a>c$, the entanglement across certain classes of entangling surfaces can become arbitrarily negative, depending on the geometry and topology of the surface. The negative contribution is proportional to the product of $a-c$ and the genus of the surface. Similarly, we show that in $a>c$ theories, the logarithmic negativity does not always exceed the entanglement entropy.

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arXiv2015

Entanglement structures in qubit systems

Using measures of entanglement such as negativity and tangles we provide a detailed analysis of entanglement structures in pure states of non-interacting qubits. The motivation for this exercise primarily comes from holographic considerations, where entanglement is inextricably linked with the emergence of geometry. We use the qubit systems as toy models to probe the internal structure, and introduce some useful measures involving entanglement negativity to quantify general features of entanglement. In particular, our analysis focuses on various constraints on the pattern of entanglement which are known to be satisfied by holographic sates, such as the saturation of Araki-Lieb inequality (in certain circumstances), and the monogamy of mutual information. We argue that even systems as simple as few non-interacting qubits can be useful laboratories to explore how the emergence of the bulk geometry may be related to quantum information principles.

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