On the asymptotic scaling of the von Neumann entropy in quasifree fermionic right mover/left mover systems

Abstract: For the general class of quasifree fermionic right mover/left mover systems over the infinitely extended two-sided discrete line introduced in [8] within the algebraic framework of quantum statistical mechanics, we study the von Neumann entropy of a contiguous subsystem of finite length in interaction with its environment. In particular, under the assumption of spatial translation invariance, we analyze the asymptotic behavior of the von Neumann entropy for large subsystem lengths and prove that its leading order density is, in general, nonvanishing and displays the signature of a mixture of the independent thermal species underlying the right mover/left mover system. As special cases, the formalism covers so-called nonequilibrium steady states, thermal equilibrium states, and ground states. Moreover, for general Fermi functions, we derive a necessary and sufficient criterion for the von Neumann entropy density to vanish.