Abstract:
We investigate the dynamics of number entropy in a chain of free fermions subjected to both defects and stochastic processes. For a special class of defects, namely conformal defects, we present analytical and numerical results for the temporal growth of number entropy, the time evolution of the number distribution, and the eigenvalue profile of the associated correlation matrix within a subsystem. We show that the number entropy exhibits logarithmic growth in time, originating from the Gaussian structure of the number distribution. We find that the eigenvalue dynamics reveal a profound connection to the reflection and transmission coefficients of the associated scattering problem for a broad range of defects. When stochastic processes are introduced, specifically Stochastic Unitary Processes (SUP) and Quantum State Diffusion (QSD), the number entropy scales as ln(𝑡) in the SUP case and shows strong hints of ln[ln(𝑡)] scaling in the QSD case. These findings establish compelling evidence that number entropy grows logarithmically slower than the corresponding von Neumann entanglement entropy across a wide class of systems.