Abstract
Entanglement entropy (EE) provides a powerful probe of quantum phases, yet its role in identifying topological phase transitions in disordered systems remains underexplored. We introduce an exact EE-based framework that captures topological phase transitions even in the presence of disorder. Specifically, for a class of Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) model variants, we show that the difference in EE between half-filled and near-half-filled ground states,
, vanishes in the topological phase but remains finite in the trivial phase, a direct consequence of edge-state localization. This behavior persists even in the presence of quasiperiodic or binary disorder. By analyzing domain-wall configurations in the SSH chain, we further show how subsystem tuning allows one to distinguish genuine topological zero-energy eigenstates from trivial localized states. Exact phase boundaries, derived from Lyapunov exponents via transfer matrices, agree closely with numerical results from
and the topological invariant
, with instances where
outperforms
. Our results highlight EE as a robust diagnostic tool and a potential bridge between quantum information and condensed matter approaches to topological matter.
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