Ergodicity Breaking and Deviation from Eigenstate Thermalization in Relativistic Quantum Field Theory.

The validity of the ergodic hypothesis in quantum systems can be rephrased in the form of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH), a set of statistical properties for the matrix elements of local observables in energy eigenstates, which is expected to hold in any ergodic system. We test the ETH in a nonintegrable model of relativistic quantum field theory (QFT) using the numerical method of Hamiltonian truncation in combination with analytical arguments based on Lorentz symmetry and renormalization group theory. We find that there is an infinite sequence of eigenstates with the characteristics of quantum many-body scars-that is, exceptional eigenstates with observable expectation values that lie far from thermal values-and we show that these states are one-quasiparticle states. We argue that in the thermodynamic limit the eigenstates cover the entire area between two diverging lines: the line of one-quasiparticle states, whose direction is dictated by relativistic kinematics, and the thermal average line. Our results suggest that the strong version of the ETH is violated in any relativistic QFT whose spectrum admits a quasiparticle description.

Localized Dynamics in the Floquet Quantum East Model.

We introduce and study the discrete-time version of the quantum East model, an interacting quantum spin chain inspired by simple kinetically constrained models of classical glasses. Previous work has established that its continuous-time counterpart displays a disorder-free localization transition signaled by the appearance of an exponentially large (in the volume) family of nonthermal, localized eigenstates. Here we combine analytical and numerical approaches to show that (i) the transition persists for discrete times, in fact, it is present for any finite value of the time step apart from a zero measure set; (ii) it is directly detected by following the nonequilibrium dynamics of the fully polarized state. Our findings imply that the transition is currently observable in state-of-the-art platforms for digital quantum simulation.

Dynamical Criticality of Magnetization Transfer in Integrable Spin Chains.

Recent studies have found that fluctuations of magnetization transfer in integrable spin chains violate the central limit property. Here, we revisit the problem of anomalous counting statistics in the Landau-Lifshitz field theory by specializing to two distinct anomalous regimes featuring a dynamical critical point. By performing optimized numerical simulations using an integrable space-time discretization, we extract the algebraic growth exponents of time-dependent cumulants which attain their threshold values. The distinctly non-Gaussian statistics of magnetization transfer in the easy-axis regime is found to converge toward the universal distribution of charged single-file systems. At the isotropic point, we infer a weakly non-Gaussian distribution, corroborating the view that superdiffusive spin transport in integrable spin chains does not belong to any known dynamical universality class.

On Two Non-Ergodic Reversible Cellular Automata, One Classical, the Other Quantum.

We propose and discuss two variants of kinetic particle models-cellular automata in 1 + 1 dimensions-that have some appeal due to their simplicity and intriguing properties, which could warrant further research and applications. The first model is a deterministic and reversible automaton describing two species of quasiparticles: stable massless matter particles moving with velocity ±1 and unstable standing (zero velocity) field particles. We discuss two distinct continuity equations for three conserved charges of the model. While the first two charges and the corresponding currents have support of three lattice sites and represent a lattice analogue of the conserved energy-momentum tensor, we find an additional conserved charge and current with support of nine sites, implying non-ergodic behaviour and potentially signalling integrability of the model with a highly nested R-matrix structure. The second model represents a quantum (or stochastic) deformation of a recently introduced and studied charged hardpoint lattice gas, where particles of different binary charge (±1) and binary velocity (±1) can nontrivially mix upon elastic collisional scattering. We show that while the unitary evolution rule of this model does not satisfy the full Yang-Baxter equation, it still satisfies an intriguing related identity which gives birth to an infinite set of local conserved operators, the so-called glider operators.

Absence of Normal Fluctuations in an Integrable Magnet.

We investigate dynamical fluctuations of transferred magnetization in the one-dimensional lattice Landau-Lifshitz magnet with uniaxial anisotropy, representing an emblematic model of interacting spins. We demonstrate that the structure of fluctuations in thermal equilibrium depends radically on the characteristic dynamical scale. In the ballistic regime, typical fluctuations are found to follow a normal distribution and scaled cumulants are finite. In stark contrast, on the diffusive and superdiffusive timescales, relevant, respectively, for the easy-axis and isotropic magnet at vanishing total magnetization, typical fluctuations are no longer Gaussian and, remarkably, scaled cumulants are divergent. The observed anomalous features disappear upon breaking integrability, suggesting that the absence of normal fluctuations is intimately tied to the presence of soliton modes. In a nonequilibrium setting of the isotropic magnet with weakly polarized step-profile initial state we find a slow drift of dynamical exponent from the superdiffusive towards the diffusive value.

Exact Anomalous Current Fluctuations in a Deterministic Interacting Model.

We analytically compute the full counting statistics of charge transfer in a classical automaton of interacting charged particles. Deriving a closed-form expression for the moment generating function with respect to a stationary equilibrium state, we employ asymptotic analysis to infer the structure of charge current fluctuations for a continuous range of timescales. The solution exhibits several unorthodox features. Most prominently, on the timescale of typical fluctuations the probability distribution of the integrated charge current in a stationary ensemble without bias is distinctly non-Gaussian despite diffusive behavior of dynamical charge susceptibility. While inducing a charge imbalance is enough to recover Gaussian fluctuations, we find that higher cumulants grow indefinitely in time with different exponents, implying singular scaled cumulants. We associate this phenomenon with the lack of a regularity condition on moment generating functions and the onset of a dynamical critical point. In effect, the scaled cumulant generating function does not, irrespectively of charge bias, represent a faithful generating function of the scaled cumulants, yet the associated Legendre dual yields the correct large-deviation rate function. Our findings hint at novel types of dynamical universality classes in deterministic many-body systems.

Signatures of Chaos in Nonintegrable Models of Quantum Field Theories.

We study signatures of quantum chaos in (1+1)D quantum field theory (QFT) models. Our analysis is based on the method of Hamiltonian truncation, a numerical approach for the construction of low-energy spectra and eigenstates of QFTs that can be considered as perturbations of exactly solvable models. We focus on the double sine-Gordon, also studying the massive sine-Gordon and ϕ^{4} model, all of which are nonintegrable and can be studied by this method with sufficiently high precision from small to intermediate perturbation strength. We analyze the statistics of level spacings and of eigenvector components, which are expected to follow random matrix theory predictions. While level spacing statistics are close to the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) as expected, on the contrary, the eigenvector components follow a distribution markedly different from the expected Gaussian. Unlike in the typical quantum chaos scenario, the transition of level spacing statistics to chaotic behavior takes place already in the perturbative regime. Moreover, the distribution of eigenvector components does not appear to change or approach Gaussian behavior, even for relatively large perturbations. Our results suggest that these features are independent of the choice of model and basis.

Chaos and Ergodicity in Extended Quantum Systems with Noisy Driving.

We study the time-evolution operator in a family of local quantum circuits with random fields in a fixed direction. We argue that the presence of quantum chaos implies that at large times the time-evolution operator becomes effectively a random matrix in the many-body Hilbert space. To quantify this phenomenon, we compute analytically the squared magnitude of the trace of the evolution operator-the generalized spectral form factor-and compare it with the prediction of random matrix theory. We show that for the systems under consideration, the generalized spectral form factor can be expressed in terms of dynamical correlation functions of local observables in the infinite temperature state, linking chaotic and ergodic properties of the systems. This also provides a connection between the many-body Thouless time τ_{th}-the time at which the generalized spectral form factor starts following the random matrix theory prediction-and the conservation laws of the system. Moreover, we explain different scalings of τ_{th} with the system size observed for systems with and without the conservation laws.

Spectral Statistics of Non-Hermitian Matrices and Dissipative Quantum Chaos.

We propose a measure, which we call the dissipative spectral form factor (DSFF), to characterize the spectral statistics of non-Hermitian (and nonunitary) matrices. We show that DSFF successfully diagnoses dissipative quantum chaos and reveals correlations between real and imaginary parts of the complex eigenvalues up to arbitrary energy scale (and timescale). Specifically, we provide the exact solution of DSFF for the complex Ginibre ensemble (GinUE) and for a Poissonian random spectrum (Poisson) as minimal models of dissipative quantum chaotic and integrable systems, respectively. For dissipative quantum chaotic systems, we show that the DSFF exhibits an exact rotational symmetry in its complex time argument τ. Analogous to the spectral form factor (SFF) behavior for Gaussian unitary ensemble, the DSFF for GinUE shows a "dip-ramp-plateau" behavior in |τ|: the DSFF initially decreases, increases at intermediate timescales, and saturates after a generalized Heisenberg time, which scales as the inverse mean level spacing. Remarkably, for large matrix size, the "ramp" of the DSFF for GinUE increases quadratically in |τ|, in contrast to the linear ramp in the SFF for Hermitian ensembles. For dissipative quantum integrable systems, we show that the DSFF takes a constant value, except for a region in complex time whose size and behavior depend on the eigenvalue density. Numerically, we verify the above claims and additionally show that the DSFF for real and quaternion real Ginibre ensembles coincides with the GinUE behavior, except for a region in the complex time plane of measure zero in the limit of large matrix size. As a physical example, we consider the quantum kicked top model with dissipation and show that it falls under the Ginibre universality class and Poisson as the "kick" is switched on or off. Lastly, we study spectral statistics of ensembles of random classical stochastic matrices or Markov chains and show that these models again fall under the Ginibre universality class.

Many-body quantum chaos and dual-unitarity round-a-face.

We propose a new type of locally interacting quantum circuits-quantum cellular automata-that are generated by unitary interactions round-a-face (IRF). Specifically, we discuss a set (or manifold) of dual-unitary IRFs with local Hilbert space dimension d [DUIRF (d)], which generate unitary evolutions both in space and time directions of an extended 1+1 dimensional lattice. We show how arbitrary dynamical correlation functions of local observables can be evaluated in terms of finite-dimensional completely positive trace preserving unital maps in complete analogy to recently studied circuits made of dual-unitary brick gates (DUBGs). The simplest non-vanishing local correlation functions in dual-unitary IRF circuits are shown to involve observables non-trivially supported on two neighboring sites. We completely characterize the ten-dimensional manifold of DUIRF (2) for qubits ( d=2) and provide, for d=3,4,…,7, empirical estimates of its dimensionality based on numerically determined dimensions of tangent spaces at an ensemble of random instances of dual-unitary IRF gates. In parallel, we apply the same algorithm to determine dimDUBG(d) and show that they are of similar order though systematically larger than dimDUIRF(d) for d=2,3,…,7. It is remarkable that both sets have a rather complex topology for d≥3 in the sense that the dimension of the tangent space varies among different randomly generated points of the set. Finally, we provide additional data on dimensionality of the chiral extension of DUBG circuits with distinct local Hilbert spaces of dimensions d≠d' residing at even/odd lattice sites.

Undular Diffusion in Nonlinear Sigma Models.

We discuss general features of charge transport in nonrelativistic classical field theories invariant under non-Abelian unitary Lie groups by examining the full structure of two-point dynamical correlation functions in grand-canonical ensembles at finite charge densities (polarized ensembles). Upon explicit breaking of non-Abelian symmetry, two distinct transport laws characterized by dynamical exponent z=2 arise. While in the unbroken symmetry sector, the Cartan fields exhibit normal diffusion, the transversal sectors governed by the nonlinear analogs of Goldstone modes disclose an unconventional law of diffusion, characterized by a complex diffusion constant and undulating patterns in the spatiotemporal correlation profiles. In the limit of strong polarization, one retrieves the imaginary-time diffusion for uncoupled linear Goldstone modes, whereas for weak polarizations the imaginary component of the diffusion constant becomes small. In models of higher rank symmetry, we prove absence of dynamical correlations among distinct transversal sectors.

Exact Nonequilibrium Steady State of Open XXZ/XYZ Spin-1/2 Chain with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions.

We investigate a dissipatively driven XYZ spin-1/2 chain in the Zeno limit of strong dissipation, described by the Lindblad master equation. The nonequilibrium steady state is expressed in terms of a matrix product ansatz using novel site-dependent Lax operators. The components of Lax operators satisfy a simple set of linear recurrence equations that generalize the defining algebraic relations of the quantum group U_{q}(sl_{2}). We reveal connection between the nonequilibrium steady state of the nonunitary dynamics and the respective integrable model with edge magnetic fields, described by coherent unitary dynamics.

Integrable Quantum Dynamics of Open Collective Spin Models.

We consider a collective quantum spin s in contact with Markovian spin-polarized baths. Using a conserved superoperator charge, a differential representation of the Liouvillian is constructed to find its exact spectrum and eigenmodes. We study the spectral properties of the model in the large-s limit using a semiclassical quantization condition and show that the spectral density may diverge along certain curves in the complex plane. We exploit our exact solution to characterize steady-state properties, in particular at the discontinuous phase transition that arises for unpolarized environments, and to determine the decay rates of coherences and populations. Our approach provides a systematic way of finding integrable Liouvillian operators with nontrivial steady states as well as a way to study their spectral properties and eigenmodes.

Kardar-Parisi-Zhang Physics in the Quantum Heisenberg Magnet.

Equilibrium spatiotemporal correlation functions are central to understanding weak nonequilibrium physics. In certain local one-dimensional classical systems with three conservation laws they show universal features. Namely, fluctuations around ballistically propagating sound modes can be described by the celebrated Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. Can such a universality class be found also in quantum systems? By unambiguously demonstrating that the KPZ scaling function describes magnetization dynamics in the SU(2) symmetric Heisenberg spin chain we show, for the first time, that this is so. We achieve that by introducing new theoretical and numerical tools, and make a puzzling observation that the conservation of energy does not seem to matter for the KPZ physics.

Ballistic Spin Transport in a Periodically Driven Integrable Quantum System.

We demonstrate ballistic spin transport of an integrable unitary quantum circuit, which can be understood either as a paradigm of an integrable periodically driven (Floquet) spin chain, or as a Trotterized anisotropic (XXZ) Heisenberg spin-1/2 model. We construct an analytic family of quasilocal conservation laws that break the spin-reversal symmetry and compute a lower bound on the spin Drude weight, which is found to be a fractal function of the anisotropy parameter. Extensive numerical simulations of spin transport suggest that this fractal lower bound is in fact tight.

Exact Correlation Functions for Dual-Unitary Lattice Models in 1+1 Dimensions.

We consider a class of quantum lattice models in 1+1 dimensions represented as local quantum circuits that enjoy a particular dual-unitarity property. In essence, this property ensures that both the evolution in time and that in space are given in terms of unitary transfer matrices. We show that for this class of circuits, generically nonintegrable, one can compute explicitly all dynamical correlations of local observables. Our result is exact, nonpertubative, and holds for any dimension d of the local Hilbert space. In the minimal case of qubits (d=2) we also present a classification of all dual-unitary circuits which allows us to single out a number of distinct classes for the behavior of the dynamical correlations. We find noninteracting classes, where all correlations are preserved, the ergodic and mixing one, where all correlations decay, and, interestingly, also classes that are both interacting and nonergodic.

Universal Signature from Integrability to Chaos in Dissipative Open Quantum Systems.

We study the transition between integrable and chaotic behavior in dissipative open quantum systems, exemplified by a boundary driven quantum spin chain. The repulsion between the complex eigenvalues of the corresponding Liouville operator in radial distance s is used as a universal measure. The corresponding level spacing distribution is well fitted by that of a static two-dimensional Coulomb gas with harmonic potential at inverse temperature ß∈[0,2]. Here, ß=0 yields the two-dimensional Poisson distribution, matching the integrable limit of the system, and ß=2 equals the distribution obtained from the complex Ginibre ensemble, describing the fully chaotic limit. Our findings generalize the results of Grobe, Haake, and Sommers, who derived a universal cubic level repulsion for small spacings s. We collect mathematical evidence for the universality of the full level spacing distribution in the fully chaotic limit at ß=2. It holds for all three Ginibre ensembles of random matrices with independent real, complex, or quaternion matrix elements.

Exact Spectral Form Factor in a Minimal Model of Many-Body Quantum Chaos.

The most general and versatile defining feature of quantum chaotic systems is that they possess an energy spectrum with correlations universally described by random matrix theory (RMT). This feature can be exhibited by systems with a well-defined classical limit as well as by systems with no classical correspondence, such as locally interacting spins or fermions. Despite great phenomenological success, a general mechanism explaining the emergence of RMT without reference to semiclassical concepts is still missing. Here we provide the example of a quantum many-body system with no semiclassical limit (no large parameter) where the emergence of RMT spectral correlations is proven exactly. Specifically, we consider a periodically driven Ising model and write the Fourier transform of spectral density's two-point function, the spectral form factor, in terms of a partition function of a two-dimensional classical Ising model featuring a space-time duality. We show that the self-dual cases provide a minimal model of many-body quantum chaos, where the spectral form factor is demonstrated to match RMT for all values of the integer time variable t in the thermodynamic limit. In particular, we rigorously prove RMT form factor for an odd t, while we formulate a precise conjecture for an even t. The results imply ergodicity for any finite amount of disorder in the longitudinal field, rigorously excluding the possibility of many-body localization. Our method provides a novel route for obtaining exact nonperturbative results in nonintegrable systems.

Integrable Trotterization: Local Conservation Laws and Boundary Driving.

We discuss a general procedure to construct an integrable real-time Trotterization of interacting lattice models. As an illustrative example, we consider a spin-1/2 chain, with continuous time dynamics described by the isotropic (XXX) Heisenberg Hamiltonian. For periodic boundary conditions, local conservation laws are derived from an inhomogeneous transfer matrix, and a boost operator is constructed. In the continuous time limit, these local charges reduce to the known integrals of motion of the Heisenberg chain. In a simple Kraus representation, we also examine the nonequilibrium setting, where our integrable cellular automaton is driven by stochastic processes at the boundaries. We show explicitly how an exact nonequilibrium steady-state density matrix can be written in terms of a staggered matrix product ansatz, and we propose quasilocal conservation laws for the model with periodic boundary conditions. This simple Trotterization scheme, in particular in the open system framework, could prove to be a useful tool for experimental simulations of the lattice models in terms of trapped ion and atom optics setups.