English

Geometric Characterization of Anisotropic Correlations via Mutual Information Tomography

Statistical Mechanics 2025-12-09 v1

Abstract

Characterizing anisotropic correlations in quantum and statistical systems requires a coordinate-invariant framework. We introduce a geometric map based on the local informational line element, calibrated by the Euclidean benchmark scale CvacC_{\mathrm{vac}}: ds2=Cvac/I(x,x+ϵ)ds^{2} = C_{\mathrm{vac}}/I(x,x+\epsilon). We prove that this map yields a smooth Riemannian structure gijg_{ij} if and only if the short-distance mutual information (MI) follows the anisotropic inverse-quadratic law (local exponent Xloc=2X_{\text{loc}}=2). A key insight is that anisotropy is necessary to activate tensor geometry; isotropic MI forces conformal flatness gijδijg_{ij} \propto \delta_{ij}, suppressing shear degrees of freedom. We employ a parameterization-invariant unimodular split gij=V2/Dγijg_{ij} = V^{2/D}\gamma_{ij}, which rigorously separates local density fluctuations (volume VV) from directional anisotropy (shape/shear γij\gamma_{ij}). We introduce ``MI Tomography,'' an operational protocol to reconstruct these geometric components from finite directional measurements. The protocol is validated using the equal-time ground state of an anisotropic 2D quantum harmonic lattice (massless relativistic scalar) on a torus, where the reconstructed shape tensor γij\gamma_{ij} quantitatively recovers the physical coupling anisotropy. We work strictly in the local, fixed-coarse-graining Xloc=2X_{\text{loc}}=2 branch; the line element is used solely to extract the local kinematic structure (the local metric tensor), deferring global distance claims.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.07659,
  title  = {Geometric Characterization of Anisotropic Correlations via Mutual Information Tomography},
  author = {Beau Leighton-Trudel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.07659},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

7 pages. 1 figure