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arXiv · 1706.05878

Many-body localization dynamics from gauge invariance

Marlon Brenes·Marcello Dalmonte·Markus Heyl·Antonello Scardicchio
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Abstract

We show how lattice gauge theories can display many-body localization dynamics in the absence of disorder. Our starting point is the observation that, for some generic translationally invariant states, Gauss law effectively induces a dynamics which can be described as a disorder average over gauge super-selection sectors. We carry out extensive exact simulations on the real-time dynamics of a lattice Schwinger model, describing the coupling between U(1) gauge fields and staggered fermions. Our results show how memory effects and slow entanglement growth are present in a broad regime of parameters - in particular, for sufficiently large interactions. These findings are immediately relevant to cold atoms and trapped ions experiments realizing dynamical gauge fields, and suggest a new and universal link between confinement and entanglement dynamics in the many-body localized phase of lattice models.

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Marlon Brenes, Marcello Dalmonte, Markus Heyl, Antonello Scardicchio. 2017-06-19. Many-body localization dynamics from gauge invariance. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.120.030601

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