diff --git a/datafusion/core/src/physical_optimizer/mod.rs b/datafusion/core/src/physical_optimizer/mod.rs
index 0e68a05d855c..1a4e4095e65e 100644
--- a/datafusion/core/src/physical_optimizer/mod.rs
+++ b/datafusion/core/src/physical_optimizer/mod.rs
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ pub mod join_selection;
 pub mod limited_distinct_aggregation;
 pub mod optimizer;
 pub mod projection_pushdown;
-pub mod pruning;
 pub mod replace_with_order_preserving_variants;
 pub mod sanity_checker;
 #[cfg(test)]
diff --git a/datafusion/expr-common/Cargo.toml b/datafusion/expr-common/Cargo.toml
index 7e477efc4ebc..37e694e761b0 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr-common/Cargo.toml
+++ b/datafusion/expr-common/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 [package]
 name = "datafusion-expr-common"
-description = "Logical plan and expression representation for DataFusion query engine"
+description = "Common types and traits for plan and expression representation for DataFusion query engine"
 keywords = ["datafusion", "logical", "plan", "expressions"]
 readme = "README.md"
 version = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/datafusion/expr-common/src/lib.rs b/datafusion/expr-common/src/lib.rs
index 179dd75ace85..93186adaa877 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr-common/src/lib.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr-common/src/lib.rs
@@ -17,9 +17,13 @@
 
 //! Logical Expr types and traits for [DataFusion]
 //!
-//! This crate contains types and traits that are used by both Logical and Physical expressions.
-//! They are kept in their own crate to avoid physical expressions depending on logical expressions.
-//!  
+//! This crate contains types and traits that are used by both Logical and
+//! Physical expressions. They are kept in their own crate to avoid physical
+//! expressions depending on logical expressions.
+//!
+//! Note this crate is not intended to have substantial logic itself, but rather
+//! to provide a common set of types and traits that can be used by both logical
+//! and physical expressions.
 //!
 //! [DataFusion]: <https://crates.io/crates/datafusion>
 
diff --git a/datafusion/physical-optimizer/Cargo.toml b/datafusion/physical-optimizer/Cargo.toml
index 125ea6acc77f..afa5c25e533a 100644
--- a/datafusion/physical-optimizer/Cargo.toml
+++ b/datafusion/physical-optimizer/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ rust-version = { workspace = true }
 workspace = true
 
 [dependencies]
+arrow = { workspace = true }
 datafusion-common = { workspace = true, default-features = true }
 datafusion-execution = { workspace = true }
+datafusion-expr-common = { workspace = true }
 datafusion-physical-expr = { workspace = true }
 datafusion-physical-plan = { workspace = true }
+log = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/datafusion/physical-optimizer/src/lib.rs b/datafusion/physical-optimizer/src/lib.rs
index d54e6dbcab8f..4b81b35ef9cb 100644
--- a/datafusion/physical-optimizer/src/lib.rs
+++ b/datafusion/physical-optimizer/src/lib.rs
@@ -23,3 +23,5 @@ mod optimizer;
 pub mod output_requirements;
 
 pub use optimizer::PhysicalOptimizerRule;
+
+pub mod pruning;
diff --git a/datafusion/core/src/physical_optimizer/pruning.rs b/datafusion/physical-optimizer/src/pruning.rs
similarity index 99%
rename from datafusion/core/src/physical_optimizer/pruning.rs
rename to datafusion/physical-optimizer/src/pruning.rs
index 0ef390fff45c..8229db592c80 100644
--- a/datafusion/core/src/physical_optimizer/pruning.rs
+++ b/datafusion/physical-optimizer/src/pruning.rs
@@ -22,28 +22,24 @@
 use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
-use crate::{
-    common::{Column, DFSchema},
-    error::{DataFusionError, Result},
-    logical_expr::Operator,
-    physical_plan::{ColumnarValue, PhysicalExpr},
-};
-
+use arrow::array::AsArray;
 use arrow::{
     array::{new_null_array, ArrayRef, BooleanArray},
     datatypes::{DataType, Field, Schema, SchemaRef},
     record_batch::{RecordBatch, RecordBatchOptions},
 };
-use arrow_array::cast::AsArray;
 use datafusion_common::tree_node::TransformedResult;
 use datafusion_common::{
     internal_err, plan_datafusion_err, plan_err,
     tree_node::{Transformed, TreeNode},
-    ScalarValue,
+    Column, DFSchema, ScalarValue,
 };
+use datafusion_common::{DataFusionError, Result};
 use datafusion_physical_expr::utils::{collect_columns, Guarantee, LiteralGuarantee};
-use datafusion_physical_expr::{expressions as phys_expr, PhysicalExprRef};
+use datafusion_physical_expr::{expressions as phys_expr, PhysicalExpr, PhysicalExprRef};
 
+use datafusion_expr_common::operator::Operator;
+use datafusion_physical_plan::ColumnarValue;
 use log::trace;
 
 /// A source of runtime statistical information to [`PruningPredicate`]s.
@@ -615,7 +611,8 @@ impl PruningPredicate {
         is_always_true(&self.predicate_expr) && self.literal_guarantees.is_empty()
     }
 
-    pub(crate) fn required_columns(&self) -> &RequiredColumns {
+    /// Return the columns that are required to evaluate the pruning predicate
+    pub fn required_columns(&self) -> &RequiredColumns {
         &self.required_columns
     }
 
@@ -724,7 +721,7 @@ fn is_always_true(expr: &Arc<dyn PhysicalExpr>) -> bool {
 /// Handles creating references to the min/max statistics
 /// for columns as well as recording which statistics are needed
 #[derive(Debug, Default, Clone)]
-pub(crate) struct RequiredColumns {
+pub struct RequiredColumns {
     /// The statistics required to evaluate this predicate:
     /// * The unqualified column in the input schema
     /// * Statistics type (e.g. Min or Max or Null_Count)
@@ -746,7 +743,7 @@ impl RequiredColumns {
     /// * `a > 5 OR a < 10` returns `Some(a)`
     /// * `a > 5 OR b < 10` returns `None`
     /// * `true` returns None
-    pub(crate) fn single_column(&self) -> Option<&phys_expr::Column> {
+    pub fn single_column(&self) -> Option<&phys_expr::Column> {
         if self.columns.windows(2).all(|w| {
             // check if all columns are the same (ignoring statistics and field)
             let c1 = &w[0].0;