Average entropy of a subsystem
Don Nelson Page · Physical Review Letters · 1993
If a quantum system of Hilbert space dimension mn is in a random pure state, the average entropy of a subsystem of dimension m\ensuremath{\le}n is conjectured to be ${\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{m},\mathit{n}}$= ${\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{k}=\mathit{n}+1}^{\mathit{mn}}$ 1/k-m-1/2n and is shown to be \ensuremath{\simeq}lnm-m/2n for 1\ensuremath{\ll}m\ensuremath{\le}n. Thus there is less than one-half unit of information, on average, in the smaller subsystem of a total system in a random pure state.