In this Letter, we consider the variation of the entanglement entropy of a region as the shape of the entangling surface is changed. We show that the variation satisfies a Wess-Zumino-like integrability condition in field theories which can be consistently coupled to gravity. In this case, the “anomaly” is localized on the entangling surface. The solution of the integrability condition should give all the nontrivial finite local terms which can appear in the variation of the entanglement entropy. The answers depend on the intrinsic and extrinsic geometry of the entangling surface, but the form does not depend on the details of the field theory. The coefficients, which multiply the purely geometric contributions, will depend on the particular details of the field theory.

• Received 22 March 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.010402