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  • Open Access

Subdimensional entanglement entropy: From geometric-topological response to entanglement-induced mixed-state holography

Meng-Yuan Li1,2 and Peng Ye1,*

  • 1School of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Magnetoelectric Physics and Devices, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
  • 2Institute for Advanced Study, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

  • *Contact author: yepeng5@mail.sysu.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043007 – Published 5 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kds6-fvp4

Abstract

We introduce the subdimensional entanglement entropy (SEE), defined on subdimensional entanglement subsystems (SESs) embedded in the bulk, as an entanglement-based probe of how geometry and topology jointly shape universal properties of quantum matter. By varying the dimension, geometry, and topology of the SES, we show that the subleading term of SEE exhibits sharply distinct responses in a series of stabilizer states representing fixed points of different phases, including cluster states, Zq topological orders, and fracton orders. Treating the reduced density matrix of an SES as a many-body mixed state supported on the SES manifold, we further establish a general correspondence between bulk stabilizers and mixed-state symmetries on SESs, separating them into strong and weak classes, and use it to identify strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking within SESs. Finally, for SESs with nontrivial SEE, we show that a set of weak symmetries acts as transparent patch operators of the corresponding strong symmetries. This motivates the notion of transparent composite symmetry, which remains robust under bipartition-factorized finite-depth quantum circuits that preserve SEE, and implies that a D-dimensional SES may holographically encode a (D+1)-dimensional topological order. These results establish SEE not only as a sharp probe of geometric-topological response, but also as a route from bulk pure-state entanglement to mixed-state symmetry and holography on subdimensional manifolds.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043007– Published 5 October, 2026
  • Received 21 December 2025
  • Accepted 5 September 2026
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