Many-Body Delocalization via Emergent Symmetry.

Many-body localization (MBL) provides a mechanism to avoid thermalization in many-body quantum systems. Here, we show that an emergent symmetry can protect a state from MBL. Specifically, we propose a Z_{2} symmetric model with nonlocal interactions, which has an analytically known, SU(2) invariant, critical ground state. At large disorder strength, all states at finite energy density are in a glassy MBL phase, while the lowest energy states are not. These do, however, localize when a perturbation destroys the emergent SU(2) symmetry. The model also provides an example of MBL in the presence of nonlocal, disordered interactions that are more structured than a power law. Finally, we show how the protected state can be moved into the bulk of the spectrum.

Laughlin spin-liquid states on lattices obtained from conformal field theory.

We propose a set of spin system wave functions that is very similar to lattice versions of the Laughlin states. The wave functions are conformal blocks of conformal field theories and for a filling factor of ν = 1/2 we provide a parent Hamiltonian, which is valid for any even number of spins and is at the same time a 2D generalization of the Haldane-Shastry model. We also demonstrate that the Kalmeyer-Laughlin state is reproduced as a particular case of this model. Finally, we discuss various properties of the spin states and point out several analogies to known results for the Laughlin states.

Local models of fractional quantum Hall states in lattices and physical implementation.

The fractional quantum Hall effect is one of the most striking phenomena in condensed matter physics. It is described by a simple Laughlin wavefunction and has been thoroughly studied both theoretically and experimentally. In lattice systems, however, much less is currently known, and only few models and mechanisms leading to it have been identified. Here we propose a new way of constructing lattice Hamiltonians with local interactions and fractional quantum Hall like ground states. In particular, we obtain a spin 1/2 model with a bosonic Laughlin-like ground state, displaying a variety of topological features. We also demonstrate how such a model naturally emerges out of a Fermi-Hubbard-like model at half filling, in which the kinetic energy part possesses bands with non-zero Chern number, and we show how this model can be implemented in an optical lattice setup with present or planned technologies.