arXiv subjects

Ning Bao

Publications and source records attributed to Ning Bao.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Beyond Strong Subadditivity: Holographic Entropy Inequalities Along Renormalization Group Flows

Strong subadditivity (SSA) on a common light cone gives the Casini-Huerta entropic proof of the three-dimensional $F$-theorem. We ask whether holographic entropy inequalities beyond SSA similarly constrain renormalization group flows for which every intermediate theory admits a semiclassical holographic description. For small, disjoint deformations of a common light-cone region, we show that the second-order response of a broad class of balanced holographic inequalities depends only on pairwise correlations already controlled by SSA. A six-party example shows that the full finite inequality nevertheless contains genuinely multipartite information, so its disappearance is a limitation of the second-order expansion rather than of the inequality itself. Two natural finite constructions do not recover the missing information. We nevertheless find two ways in which information beyond SSA survives. A five-party inequality bounds the rate at which a conditional correlation grows as one region is enlarged. Separately, a continuum limit of the odd-cyclic inequalities gives a constraint on the angular shape dependence of entanglement entropy, and Lorentz symmetry relates this constraint to radial evolution. Thus holographic entropy inequalities beyond SSA do constrain entanglement along RG flows, although we do not obtain a second universal analogue of the $F$-function.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

The Capacity of Entanglement and Holographic Entropies at Finite Resources

The Ryu-Takayanagi formula equates the area of a minimal surface with the von Neumann entropy of a boundary subregion, and leaves two things about that identification open. The first is how sharply a geometry fixes an entropy. Fannes-Audenaert answers with a Hilbert-space dimension, which diverges as the cutoff is removed however close the two states are. We replace it with the capacity of entanglement, the variance of the modular energy, whose square root grows like the square root of the entangling area where the dimensional factor grows like the regulated volume. The bound is dimension-free and saturated, and it makes the ambiguity of the entropy subextensive for any perturbation whose capacity is small compared with $S_{vN}^2$ times the trace norm. The second is what the area means for a single state, since compression and dilution rates are defined only for many copies while a geometry describes one. When a single replica saddle dominates near $\alpha = 1$, every smooth R\'{e}nyi entropy at fixed $\alpha > 1$ agrees with $S_{vN}$ to $\textit{O}(\sqrt{S_{vN}})$, as do the smooth min- and max-entropies. The minimal surface therefore fixes every one-shot entropy of the state at once, with large central charge playing the role of large copy number in the asymptotic equipartition property. As a consequence we bound how far outside the holographic entropy cone a holographic state can appear to fall, leaving estimation and certification open.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Confinement as Decoding: Higher Form Codes and Lattice Yang-Mills Theory

We study the relationship between quantum error correction, confinement, and lattice Yang-Mills theory. We first formulate decoding for finite Abelian homological codes in terms of higher form gauge fields. For positive local noise, the logical classes are topological sectors of a Nishimori ensemble, and the optimal decoding error is determined by the relative weights of the nontrivial sectors. We derive Fourier relations between logical probabilities, disorder operators, and information in the channel environment, and we give contour and fractional moment criteria for a threshold. We then study a four dimensional $\Z_N$ memory and its possible relation to confining $\PSU(N)$ vacua. Finally, we define a finite curvature center sheet model coupled to Wilson $\SU(N)$ link variables. In this model the conditional logical probabilities are center twisted Yang-Mills partition functions. A strong coupling expansion gives the leading effective interaction for the syndrome and shows that local syndrome correlations can decay even when the global sheet sectors are mixed. We also show that the likelihood for a separated pair of syndrome worldlines is the center monopole correlator. Its decay determines a transfer matrix mass. This distinguishes the suppression of global flux sectors from the local spectral information needed to discuss a mass gap.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Combinatorial aspects of holographic quantum secret sharing

We introduce combinatorial holographic quantum secret sharing (CHQSS) for a bulk subregion in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ to study how logical information of the bulk subregion is encoded in the boundary and protected from erasures of boundary subregions. We introduce a distance, a reconstruction threshold, and a secret threshold to characterize CHQSS schemes. We present the phase transitions of multipartite entanglement wedges in a symmetric setup and observe multiple distinct phase transition points. The distance and thresholds depend on the holographic phase and the choice of bulk subregion. We derive the maximum distance. Moreover, we derive the relations between the distance and the thresholds. We construct a family of CHQSS schemes in the symmetric setting that includes perfect threshold CHQSS and perfect non-threshold CHQSS.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Phase transitions and uberholography of holographic pure-state geometries

We study the error-correcting properties of pure-state holographic geometries, in which mixed boundary subregions are replaced, via the surface/state correspondence, by the Ryu--Takayanagi (RT) geodesic bounding their entanglement wedges. In AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ we derive a cross-ratio threshold relation $\eta'/\eta = e^{\Delta H/2}$ for the connected/disconnected transition of the entanglement wedge when two holes are punched in such a geometry. The quantity $\Delta H$ is sourced entirely by geodesics ending on RT boundaries. It shifts the standard two-interval threshold $\eta = 1/2$, and we classify when its sign is fixed by the pattern of hole endpoints. Turning to code properties, we show that the recursive hole-punching underlying uberholography cannot start within an RT-boundary, while an untouched asymptotic boundary can still fractalize, and we find numerically that in the configurations we study it does so with the universal fractal dimension $\alpha \approx 0.786$. The resulting upper bounds on price and distance are nevertheless procedure dependent. In the configurations we study, punching holes on the asymptotic boundary while retaining the RT-boundary yields strictly tighter bounds than first tracing out the RT-boundary and then fractalizing.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Efficient Quantum Hermite Transform

We present a new primitive for quantum algorithms that implements a discrete Hermite transform efficiently, in time that depends logarithmically in both the dimension and the inverse of the allowable error. This transform, which maps basis states to states whose amplitudes are proportional to the Hermite functions, can be interpreted as the Gaussian analogue of the Fourier transform. Our algorithm is based on a method to exponentially fast forward the evolution of the quantum harmonic oscillator, which significantly improves over prior art. We apply this Hermite transform to give examples of provable quantum query advantage in property testing and learning. In particular, we show how to efficiently test the property of being close to a low- degree in the Hermite basis when inputs are sampled from the Gaussian distribution, and how to solve a Gaussian analogue of the Goldreich-Levin learning task efficiently. We also comment on other potential uses of this transform to simulating time dynamics of quantum systems in the continuum.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Coarse-Grained Fixed-Point Tensor Networks and Holographic Reflected Entropy in 3D Gravity

We use the framework of $\textit{fixed-point BCFT tensor networks}$ to present a microscopic CFT derivation of the correspondence between reflected entropy (RE) and entanglement wedge cross section (EW) in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$, for both bipartite and multipartite settings. These fixed-point tensor networks, obtained by triangulating Euclidean CFT path integrals, allow us to explicitly construct the canonical purification via cutting-and-gluing CFT path integrals. Employing modular flow in the large-$c$ limit, we demonstrate that these intrinsic CFT manipulations reproduce bulk geometric prescriptions, without assuming the AdS/CFT dictionary. The emergence of bulk geometry is traced to coarse-graining over heavy states in the large-$c$ limit. Universal coarse-grained BCFT data for compact 2D CFTs, through the relation to Liouville theory with ZZ boundary conditions, yields hyperbolic geometry on the Cauchy slice. The corresponding averaged replica partition functions reproduce all candidate EWs, arising from different averaging patterns, with the dominant one providing the correct RE and EW. In this way, many heuristic tensor-network intuitions in toy models are made precise and established directly from intrinsic CFT data.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Tripartite Correlation Signal from Multipartite Entanglement of Purification

We propose a signal $\Delta^{(3)}_p$ for genuine tripartite entanglement in finite-dimensional quantum systems and $\Delta^{(3)}_w$ for holographic systems. We prove that $\Delta^{(3)}_p$ is non-negative for any tripartite entangled mixed states. Based on the conjecture, the equality between an entanglement wedge cross section $E_w$ and entanglement of purification $E_p$, i.e., $E_w = E_P$ in the semiclassical limit, we apply the tripartite entanglement measure to study the structures of tripartite entanglement in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$, especially for pure AdS$_3$. We comment on a generalization to $n$-partite entanglement signals $\Delta^{(n)}_p(A_1:\cdots:A_n)$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

On the completeness of contraction map proof method for holographic entropy inequalities

The contraction map proof method is the commonly used method to prove holographic entropy inequalities. Existence of a contraction map corresponding to a holographic entropy inequality is a sufficient condition for its validity. But is it also necessary? In this note, we answer that question in affirmative for all linear holographic entropy inequalities with rational coefficients. We show that the pre-image of a non-contraction map is not a hypercube, but a proper cubical subgraph, and show that this manifests as alterations to the geodesic structure in the bulk, which leads to the violation of inequalities by holographic geometries obeying the RT formula.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Ryu-Takayanagi Formula for Multi-Boundary Black Holes from 2D Large-$c$ CFT Ensemble

We study a class of quantum states involving multiple entangled CFTs in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$, associated with multi-boundary black hole geometries, and demonstrate that the Ryu-Takayanagi (RT) formula for entanglement entropy can be derived using only boundary CFT data. Approximating the OPE coefficients by their Gaussian moments within the 2D large-$c$ CFT ensemble, we show that both the norm of the states and the entanglement entropies associated with various bipartitions--reproducing the expected bulk dual results--can be computed purely from the CFT. All $\textit{macroscopic geometric}$ structures arising from gravitational saddles emerge entirely from the universal statistical moments of the $\textit{microscopic algebraic}$ CFT data, revealing a statistical-mechanical mechanism underlying semiclassical gravity. We establish a precise correspondence between the CFT norm, the Liouville partition function with ZZ boundary conditions, and the exact gravitational path integral over 3D multi-boundary black hole geometries. For entanglement entropy, each RT phase arises from a distinct leading-order Gaussian contraction, with phase transitions--analogous to replica wormholes--emerging naturally from varying dominant statistical patterns in the CFT ensemble. Our derivation elucidates how the general mechanism behind holographic entropy, namely a boundary replica direction that elongates and becomes contractible in the bulk dual, is encoded explicitly in the statistical structure of the CFT data.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Black Hole Complementarity and ER/EPR

We demonstrate that wormholes must be entangled regardless of asymptotic boundary conditions. Assuming black hole complementarity, we argue that traversable wormholes instantiate entanglement-assisted quantum channels and that this entanglement must be present between the stretched horizons as an initial condition prior to traversability. This result demonstrates the forward direction of the ER/EPR conjectures.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

QG from SymQRG: AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ Correspondence as Topological Symmetry-Preserving Quantum RG Flow

By analyzing non-perturbative RG flows that explicitly preserve given topological symmetries, we show that each of their coarse-graining steps can be expressed as a quantum path integral of the SymTFT in one higher dimension. When the symmetries involved include the Virasoro defect lines, such as in the case of $T\bar{T}$ deformations, this RG kernel is the 3D quantum gravitational path integral. For 2D CFTs whose structure constants are under control, we identify the corresponding ground state of the SymTFT, from which the Wheeler-DeWitt equation emerges as the non-perturbative no-flux constraint: the gravitational path integral acts on this state as the projector that renders symmetry-preserving coarse-graining exact. These observations are summarized in the slogan: $\textbf{SymQRG = QG}$. The exact discrete formulation of Liouville theory in \cite{Chen:2024unp} allows us to identify a universal SymQRG kernel, constructed from quantum $6j$ symbols of $U_q(SL(2,\mathbb{R}))$: it provides a discrete realization of two copies of the Virasoro TQFT on $\Sigma\times I$, and manifests as an exact and analytic 3D background-independent MERA-type holographic tensor network. Many aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence, including the factorization puzzle, admit a natural interpretation within this framework. We propose that the non-perturbative AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ correspondence is a \textit{maximal} form of topological holography, in which the physical boundary is fixed by kinematics alone.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Reinforced Disentanglers on Random Unitary Circuits

We search for efficient disentanglers on random Clifford circuits of two-qubit gates arranged in a brick-wall pattern, using the proximal policy optimization (PPO) algorithm \cite{schulman2017proximalpolicyoptimizationalgorithms}. Disentanglers are defined as a set of projective measurements inserted between consecutive entangling layers. An efficient disentangler is a set of projective measurements that minimize the averaged von Neumann entropy of the final state with the least number of total projections possible. The problem is naturally amenable to reinforcement learning techniques by taking the binary matrix representing the projective measurements along the circuit as our state, and actions as bit flipping operations on this binary matrix that add or delete measurements at specified locations. We give rewards to our agent dependent on the averaged von Neumann entropy of the final state and the configuration of measurements, such that the agent learns the optimal policy that will take him from the initial state of no measurements to the optimal measurement state that minimizes the entanglement entropy. Our results indicate that the number of measurements required to disentangle a random quantum circuit is drastically less than the numerical results of measurement-induced phase transition papers. Additionally, the reinforcement learning procedure enables us to characterize the pattern of optimal disentanglers, which is not possible in the works of measurement-induced phase transitions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Non-isometry, State Dependence and Holography

We establish an equivalence between non-isometry of quantum codes and state-dependence of operator reconstruction, and discuss implications of this equivalence for holographic duality. Specifically, we define quantitative measures of non-isometry and state-dependence and describe bounds relating these quantities. In the context of holography we show that, assuming known gravitational path integral results for overlaps between semiclassical states, non-isometric bulk-to-boundary maps with a trivial kernel are approximately isometric and bulk reconstruction approximately state-independent. In contrast, non-isometric maps with a non-empty kernel always lead to state-dependent reconstruction. We also show that if a global bulk-to-boundary map is non-isometric, then there exists a region in the bulk which is causally disconnected from the boundary. Finally, we conjecture that, under certain physical assumptions for the definition of the Hilbert space of effective field theory in AdS space, the presence of a global horizon implies a non-isometric global bulk-to-boundary map.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Exploiting recursive structures for the design of novel quantum primitives

The advent of fault-tolerant quantum computers marks a significant milestone, yet the development of practical quantum algorithms remains a critical challenge. Effective quantum algorithms are essential for leveraging the power of quantum computers, and their design is often non-intuitive. This paper addresses the issue of generating novel quantum primitives by focusing on recursive circuits. We explore the recursive circuit structures prevalent in existing quantum algorithms and demonstrate how these structures can be exploited to design new, potentially advantageous quantum algorithms. We base our discussion on the quantum Fourier transform (QFT), which is a primitive that is widely used in quantum algorithms. We show that the recursive structure in well-established fast classical transforms forms a fruitful bridge with quantum algorithms, enabling the design of novel quantum primitives and the discovery of new discrete numerical transforms. The discussion is split into two complementary parts, the forward and the reverse direction, in which existing classical transforms are implemented using polynomial-time quantum circuits and recursive circuits are used to find novel non-sparse classical transforms with guaranteed quantum speedup, respectively. We comment on the potential impact on quantum algorithms, numerical analysis, and signal processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Towards a complete classification of holographic entropy inequalities

We propose a deterministic method to find all holographic entropy inequalities that have corresponding contraction maps and argue the completeness of our method. We use a triality between holographic entropy inequalities, contraction maps and partial cubes. More specifically, the validity of a holographic entropy inequality is implied by the existence of a contraction map, which we prove to be equivalent to finding an isometric embedding of a contracted graph. Thus, by virtue of the argued completeness of the contraction map proof method, the problem of finding all holographic entropy inequalities is equivalent to the problem of finding all contraction maps, which we translate to a problem of finding all image graph partial cubes. We give an algorithmic solution to this problem and characterize the complexity of our method. We also demonstrate interesting by-products, most notably, a procedure to generate candidate quantum entropy inequalities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

A framework for generalizing toric inequalities for holographic entanglement entropy

We conjecture a multi-parameter generalization of the toric inequalities of \cite{Czech:2023xed}. We then extend their proof methods for the generalized toric inequalities in two ways. The first extension constructs the graph corresponding to the toric inequalities and the generalized toric conjectures by tiling the Euclidean space. An entanglement wedge nesting relation then determines the geometric structure of the tiles. In the second extension, we exploit the cyclic nature of the inequalities and conjectures to construct cycle graphs. Then, the graph can be obtained using graph Cartesian products of cycle graphs. In addition, we define a set of knots on the graph by following \cite{Czech:2023xed}. These graphs with knots then imply the validity of their associated inequality. We study the case where the graph can be decomposed into disjoint unions of torii. Under the specific case, we explore and prove the conjectures for some ranges of parameters. We also discuss ways to explore the conjectured inequalities whose corresponding geometries are $d$-dimensional torii $(d>2)$

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Subregion duality, wedge classification and no global symmetries in AdS/CFT

We study various notions of `subregion duality' in the context of AdS/CFT. We highlight the differences between the `background wedge' and the `operator reconstruction wedges,' providing a resolution to the paradox raised in \cite{Bao:2019hwq}. Additionally, we elucidate the distinctions between four different `operator reconstruction wedges' and demonstrate how to enhance the proof for the absence of global symmetries in geometrical states in AdS/CFT \cite{Harlow:2018jwu, Harlow:2018tng} as an example of these distinctions.

hep-th↗