Mutual information of spin systems from autoregressive neural networks

We describe a direct method to estimate the bipartite mutual information of a classical spin system based on Monte Carlo sampling enhanced by autoregressive neural networks. It enables us to study arbitrary geometries of subsystems, and it can be generalized to classical field theories. We demonstrate it on the Ising model for four partitionings, including a multiply connected even-odd division. We show that the area law is satisfied for temperatures away from the critical temperature: the constant term is universal, whereas the proportionality coefficient is different for the even-odd partitioning.