A half-Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfeld circular Wilson loop in N=4 SU(N) supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in an arbitrary representation is described by a Gaussian matrix model with a particular insertion. The additional entanglement entropy of a spherical region in the presence of such a loop was recently computed by Lewkowycz and Maldacena using exact matrix model results. In this paper we utilize the supergravity solutions that are dual to such Wilson loops in a representation with order N2 boxes to calculate this entropy holographically. Employing the matrix model results of Gomis, Matsuura, Okuda and Trancanelli we express this holographic entanglement entropy in a form that can be compared with the calculation of Lewkowycz and Maldacena. We find complete agreement between the matrix model and holographic calculations.

Scalar solitons in global AdS4 are holographically dual to coherent states carrying a non-trivial condensate of a scalar operator. We study the holographic information content of these states, focusing on a particular spatial region, by examining the entanglement entropy and causal holographic information. We show generically that whenever the dimension of the condensed operator is sufficiently low (characterized by the double-trace operator becoming relevant), such coherent states have lower entanglement and causal holographic information than the vacuum state of the system, despite having greater energy. We also use these geometries to illustrate the fact that causal wedges associated with a simply-connected boundary region can have non-trivial topology even in causally trivial spacetimes. © 2014 The Author(s).

Abstract: We consider solutions of eleven-dimensional supergravity constructed in [1, 2] that are half-BPS, locally asymptotic to AdS7 × S4 and are the holographic dual of heavy Wilson surfaces in the six-dimensional (2, 0) theory. Using these bubbling solutions we calculate the holographic entanglement entropy for a spherical entangling surface in the presence of a planar Wilson surface. In addition, we calculate the holographic stress tensor and, by evaluating the on-shell supergravity action, the expectation value of the Wilson surface operator.

We calculate the holographic entanglement entropy in type IIB supergravity solutions that are dual to half-BPS disorder-type surface defects in ${\cal N}=4$ Super Yang-Mills theory. The entanglement entropy is calculated for a ball-shaped region bisected by a surface defect. Using the bubbling supergravity solutions we also compute the expectation value of the defect operator. Combining our result with the previously-calculated one-point function of the stress tensor in the presence of the defect, we adapt the calculation of Lewkowycz and Maldacena to obtain a second expression for the entanglement entropy. Our two expressions agree up to an additional term, whose possible origin and significance is discussed