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Information phases of partial projected ensembles generated from random quantum states and scrambling dynamics
Phys. Rev. B 113, 104301 – Published 2 March, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dcdc-pxn3
Abstract
The projected ensemble, an ensemble of pure states on a subsystem conditioned on projective measurement outcomes on its complement, provides a finer probe of ergodicity and information structure than the reduced density matrix of the subsystem in bipartite quantum states. This framework can be generalized to partial projected ensembles in tripartite settings, where outcomes from part of the measured subsystem are discarded, leading to ensembles of mixed states. We show that information measures defined for such ensembles, in particular the Holevo information, yield a more detailed characterization of how quantum information is distributed between subsystems compared to conventional entanglement measures. Using exact analytical results supported by numerical results, we uncover a qualitative change in the scaling of the Holevo information with system size in partial projected ensembles generated by Haar-random states, as the relative sizes of the subsystem are varied. In one phase, the Holevo information decays exponentially with system size, while in the other it grows linearly, thereby defining distinct information phases separated by sharp transitions signaled by nonanalyticities in the Holevo information. The exponentially decaying phase rigorously establishes the existence of a measurement-invisible quantum-correlated phase, a manifestation of many-body information scrambling with no bipartite analog. We contrast this information-phase diagram with the entanglement-phase structure of tripartite Haar-random states obtained from logarithmic negativity, and show that the Holevo information reveals additional fine structure beyond conventional entanglement measures. Finally, we show that these information phases, as characterized by the Holevo information, emerge in the dynamics of chaotic quantum circuits and discuss the associated timescales.
