Signatures of bath-induced quantum avalanches in a many-body--localized system

Julian Léonard; Sooshin Kim; Matthew Rispoli; Alexander Lukin; Robert Schittko; Joyce Kwan; Eugene Demler; Dries Sels; Markus Greiner

doi:10.1038/s41567-022-01887-3

arXiv · 2012.15270

Signatures of bath-induced quantum avalanches in a many-body--localized system

Julian Léonard·Sooshin Kim·Matthew Rispoli·Alexander Lukin·Robert Schittko·Joyce Kwan·Eugene Demler·Dries Sels·Markus Greiner

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Abstract

Strongly correlated systems can exhibit surprising phenomena when brought in a state far from equilibrium. A spectacular example are quantum avalanches, that have been predicted to run through a many-body--localized system and delocalize it. Quantum avalanches occur when the system is locally coupled to a small thermal inclusion that acts as a bath. Here we realize an interface between a many-body--localized system and a thermal inclusion of variable size, and study its dynamics. We find evidence for accelerated transport into the localized region, signature of a quantum avalanche. By measuring the site-resolved entropy we monitor how the avalanche travels through the localized system and thermalizes it site by site. Furthermore, we isolate the bath-induced dynamics by evaluating multipoint correlations between the bath and the system. Our results have fundamental implications on the robustness of many-body--localized systems and their critical behavior.

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cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.stat-mech cond-mat.str-el quant-ph

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Julian Léonard, Sooshin Kim, Matthew Rispoli, Alexander Lukin, Robert Schittko, Joyce Kwan, Eugene Demler, Dries Sels, Markus Greiner. 2020-12-30. Signatures of bath-induced quantum avalanches in a many-body--localized system. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01887-3

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