Topological transitions from multipartite entanglement with tensor networks: a procedure for sharper and faster characterization

Abstract

Topological order in a 2d quantum matter can be determined by the topological contribution to the entanglement Rényi entropies. However, when close to a quantum phase transition, its calculation becomes cumbersome. Here we show how topological phase transitions in 2d systems can be much better assessed by multipartite entanglement, as measured by the topological geometric entanglement of blocks. Specifically, we present an efficient tensor network algorithm based on Projected Entangled Pair States to compute this quantity for a torus partitioned into cylinders, and then use this method to find sharp evidence of topological phase transitions in 2d systems with a string-tension perturbation. When compared to tensor network methods for Rényi entropies, our approach produces almost perfect accuracies close to criticality and, on top, is orders of magnitude faster. The method can be adapted to deal with any topological state of the system, including minimally entangled ground states. It also allows to extract the critical exponent of the correlation length, and shows that there is no continuous entanglement-loss along renormalization group flows in topological phases.