SciPost Phys. 3, 036 (2017) ·
published 24 November 2017
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· pdf
We analyze how maximal entanglement is generated at the fundamental level in
QED by studying correlations between helicity states in tree-level scattering
processes at high energy. We demonstrate that two mechanisms for the generation
of maximal entanglement are at work: i) $s$-channel processes where the virtual
photon carries equal overlaps of the helicities of the final state particles,
and ii) the indistinguishable superposition between $t$- and $u$-channels. We
then study whether requiring maximal entanglement constrains the coupling
structure of QED and the weak interactions. In the case of photon-electron
interactions unconstrained by gauge symmetry, we show how this requirement
allows reproducing QED. For $Z$-mediated weak scattering, the maximal
entanglement principle leads to non-trivial predictions for the value of the
weak mixing angle $\theta_W$. Our results are a first step towards
understanding the connections between maximal entanglement and the fundamental
symmetries of high-energy physics.
