https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-026-16053-9
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Diagnosing critical behavior in AdS Einstein–Maxwell-scalar theory via holographic entanglement measures
1
Department of Physics and Siyuan Laboratory, Jinan University, 510632, Guangzhou, China
2
Center for Gravitation and Cosmology, College of Physical Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China
a
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b
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Received:
18
May
2026
Accepted:
23
June
2026
Published online:
3
July
2026
Abstract
We investigate the holographic mixed-state entanglement measures in the Einstein–Maxwell-Scalar (EMS) theory. Several quantities are computed, including the holographic entanglement entropy (HEE), mutual information (MI), entanglement wedge cross-section (EWCS), and butterfly velocity (
). Our findings demonstrate that these measures can effectively diagnose phase transitions. Notably, EWCS and MI, as mixed-state entanglement measures, exhibit behavior opposite to that of the HEE. Additionally, we study the butterfly velocity, a dynamic quantum information measure, and observe that it behaves differently from the static quantum information measures. We analyze the butterfly velocity and find that its non-monotonic behavior arises from the competition between two contributions in its expression, which the analytic structure suggests may be correlated with distinct physical interpretations. Moreover, we examine the scaling behavior of the holographic entanglement measures and find that all the critical exponents are equal to 1, which is twice that of the scalar field. We also explore the inequality between EWCS and MI, noting that the growth rate of MI consistently exceeds that of EWCS during phase transitions. These features are expected to be universal across thermodynamic phase transitions, with the inequalities becoming more significant as one moves away from the critical point.
© The Author(s) 2026
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