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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tao, Jia-Wen, Jin, Hui-Ke
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25102
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Table of Contents:
  • Identifying spatial quantum correlations in mixed states is challenging because thermal mixed-state contributions obscure the entanglement encoded in subsystem entropy. Here, we introduce the entanglement projected entropy, a diagnostic for extracting boundary-sensitive quantum correlations from mixed fermionic Gaussian states. By resolving subsystem entropy into Gaussian entanglement channels and projecting their purification partners onto the physical complement, we obtain a closed-form expression in terms of the physical covariance matrix. In a one-dimensional free-fermion chain, it removes the volume-law mixed-state background and recovers the zero-temperature conformal scaling with the $c/3$ coefficient. In a two-dimensional half-filled $π$-flux model, it reveals a universal finite-temperature scaling collapse governed by an effective Dirac infrared length. These results establish entanglement projected entropy as a Gaussian spatial filter for boundary-sensitive quantum correlations hidden in mixed-state entropy.