  We report on the recent progress in theoretical and numerical studies of
entanglement entropy in lattice gauge theories. It is shown that the concept of
quantum entanglement between gauge fields in two complementary regions of space
can only be introduced if the Hilbert space of physical states is extended in a
certain way. In the extended Hilbert space, the entanglement entropy can be
partially interpreted as the classical Shannon entropy of the flux of the gauge
fields through the boundary between the two regions. Such an extension leads to
a reduction procedure which can be easily implemented in lattice simulations by
constructing lattices with special topology. This enables us to measure the
entanglement entropy in lattice Monte-Carlo simulations. On the simplest
example of Z2 lattice gauge theory in (2 + 1) dimensions we demonstrate the
relation between entanglement entropy and the classical entropy of the field
flux. For SU(2) lattice gauge theory in four dimensions, we find a signature of
non-analytic dependence of the entanglement entropy on the size of the region.
We also comment on the holographic interpretation of the entanglement entropy.
