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arXiv:2602.16597

Entanglement negativity in decohered topological states

Kang-Le Cai, Meng Cheng

cond-mat.str-elhep-thquant-phSubmitted Feb 18, 2026• Announced Feb 19, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We investigate universal entanglement signatures of mixed-state phases obtained by decohering pure-state topological order (TO), focusing on topological corrections to logarithmic entanglement negativity and mutual information: topological entanglement negativity (TEN) and topological mutual information (TMI). For Abelian TOs under decoherence, we develop a replica field-theory framework based on a doubled-state construction that relates TEN and TMI to the quantum dimensions of domain-wall defects between decoherence-induced topological boundary conditions, yielding general expressions in the strong-decoherence regime. We further compute TEN and TMI exactly for decohered $G$-graded string-net states, including cases with non-Abelian anyons. We interpret the results within the strong one-form-symmetry framework for mixed-state TOs: TMI probes the total quantum dimension of the emergent premodular anyon theory, whereas TEN detects only its modular part.

Comments
17 pages, 5 figures

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We investigate universal entanglement signatures of mixed-state phases obtained by decohering pure-state topological order (TO), focusing on topological corrections to logarithmic entanglement negativity and mutual information: topological entanglement negativity (TEN) and topological mutual information (TMI). For Abelian TOs under decoherence, we develop a replica field-theory framework based on a doubled-state construction that relates TEN and TMI to the quantum dimensions of domain-wall defects between decoherence-induced topological boundary conditions, yielding general expressions in the strong-decoherence regime. We further compute TEN and TMI exactly for decohered GGG-graded string-net states, including cases with non-Abelian anyons. We interpret the results within the strong one-form-symmetry framework for mixed-state TOs: TMI probes the total quantum dimension of the emergent premodular anyon theory, whereas TEN detects only its modular part.
We study how the color code under decoherence gives rise to an intrinsic mixed-state topological order (imTO), which has no counterpart in pure ground states of local gapped Hamiltonians. For decoherence induced by XX-type operators on red links of the honeycomb lattice, we show that the resulting mixed state inherits half of the topological properties of the color code, including anyon content, logical operators, and topological entanglement structure. Using a gauging procedure for mixed stabilizer states, we identify the emergent phase as closely related to a single toric code. We characterize this phase by topological entanglement negativity (TEN) and perform efficient stabilizer-formalism simulations. While the pure color code has TEN=2ln⁡2{\rm TEN} = 2 \ln 2TEN=2ln2, the maximally decohered state has TEN=ln⁡2{\rm TEN} = \ln 2TEN=ln2, indicating emergence of a single toric code. By tuning the decoherence strength, we find a smooth crossover in TEN accompanied by a pronounced, nearly system-size-independent peak in its variance. We further show that the negativity exhibits characteristic scaling only for subsystem partitions commensurate with the triangular lattice of the emergent toric code. Our results demonstrate that negativity-based quantities provide powerful probes of mixed-state topological order generated by decoherence.
We study the entanglement structure of topological orders subject to decoherence on the bipartition boundary. Focusing on the toric codes in ddd space dimensions for d=2,3,4d=2,3,4d=2,3,4, we explore whether the boundary decoherence may be able to induce a disentangling transition, characterized by the destruction of mixed-state long-range entanglement across the bipartition, measured by topological entanglement negativity. A key insight of our approach is the connection between the negativity spectrum of the decohered mixed states and emergent symmetry-protected topological orders under certain symmetry-preserving perturbation localized on the bipartition boundary. This insight allows us to analytically derive the exact results of entanglement negativity and characterize the universality class of the disentangling transition without using a replica trick.
The classification and characterization of topological phases of matter is well understood for ground states of gapped Hamiltonians that are well isolated from the environment. However, decoherence due to interactions with the environment is inevitable—thus motivating the investigation of topological orders in the context of mixed states. Here, we take a step toward classifying mixed-state topological orders in two spatial dimensions by considering their (emergent) generalized symmetries. We argue that their 1-form symmetries and the associated anyon theories lead to a partial classification under two-way connectivity by quasilocal quantum channels. This allows us to establish mixed-state topological orders that are intrinsically mixed, i.e., that have no ground-state counterpart. We provide a wide range of examples based on topological subsystem codes, decohering G -graded string-net models, and “classically gauging” symmetry-enriched topological orders. One of our main examples is an Ising string-net model under the influence of dephasing noise. We study the resulting space of locally indistinguishable states and compute the modular transformations within a particular coherent space. Based on our examples, we identify two possible effects of quasilocal quantum channels on anyon theories: (1) anyons can be incoherently proliferated—thus reducing to a commutant of the proliferated anyons, or (2) the system can be “classically gauged,” resulting in the symmetrization of anyons and an extension by transparent bosons. Given these two mechanisms, we conjecture that mixed-state topological orders are classified by premodular anyon theories, i.e., those for which the braiding relations may be degenerate.
Recent studies have demonstrated that measures of tripartite entanglement can probe data characterizing topologically ordered phases to which bipartite entanglement is insensitive. Motivated by these observations, we compute the reflected entropy and logarithmic negativity, a mixed-state entanglement measure, in tripartitions of bosonic topological orders using the anyon diagrammatic formalism. We consider tripartitions in which three subregions meet at trijunctions and tetrajunctions. In the former case, we find a contribution to the negativity that distinguishes between Abelian and non-Abelian order while in the latter, we find a distinct universal contribution to the reflected entropy. Finally, we demonstrate that the negativity and reflected entropy are sensitive to the FFF symbols for configurations in which we insert an anyon trimer, for which the Markov gap, defined as the difference between the reflected entropy and mutual information, is also found to be nonvanishing.
We develop an effective field theory characterizing the impact of decoherence on states with Abelian topological order and on their capacity to protect quantum information. The decoherence appears as a temporal defect in the double topological quantum field theory that describes the pure density matrix of the uncorrupted state, and it drives a boundary phase transition involving anyon condensation at a critical coupling strength. The ensuing decoherence-induced phases and the loss of quantum information are classified by the Lagrangian subgroups of the double topological order. Our framework generalizes the error recovery transitions, previously derived for certain stabilizer codes, to generic topologically ordered states and shows that they stem from phase transitions in the intrinsic topological order characterizing the mixed state.
We investigate microscopic mechanisms underlying decoherence-induced transitions between topologically ordered states. As a first case study, we analyze the color code using topological entanglement negativity (TEN) and a disorder parameter associated with 1-form symmetry. We interpret these quantities as first- and zeroth-dimensional simplicial homological objects, respectively, and show that the transition can be understood in terms of decoherence percolation. To resolve its local structure, we introduce quasi-local TEN (QLTEN), which visualizes the spatial distribution of local topological properties and the growth of decohered regions. We further introduce explosive percolation (EP), corresponding here to biased decoherence that suppresses the formation of large decohered clusters. As a second case study, we consider the toric code on a triangular lattice under external-field-type decoherence. Numerical results show that QLTEN faithfully captures the emergence of Higgs regions and the survival of logical qubits. Although global TEN, QLTEN clusters, and string operators are strongly correlated in both models, the color code and toric code respond differently to EP patterns. This difference indicates that a universal microscopic description of decoherence-induced topological phase transitions remains challenging even for closely related systems.