arXiv subjects

Bruno Nachtergaele

Publications and source records attributed to Bruno Nachtergaele.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Local Topological Quantum Order and Spectral Gap Stability for the AKLT Models on the Hexagonal and Lieb Lattices

We prove that the ground state of the AKLT models on the hexagonal lattice and the Lieb lattice satisfy the local topological quantum order (LTQO) condition. This will be a consequence of proving that the finite volume ground states are indistinguishable from a unique infinite volume ground state. Concretely, we identify a sequence of increasing and absorbing finite volumes for which any finite volume ground state expectation is well approximated by the infinite volume state with error decaying at a uniform exponential rate in the distance between the support of the observable and boundary of the finite volume. As a corollary to the LTQO property, we obtain that the spectral gap above the ground state in these models is stable under general small perturbations of sufficient decay. We prove these results by a detailed analysis of the polymer representation of the ground states state derived by Kennedy, Lieb and Tasaki (1988) with the necessary modifications required for proving the strong form of ground state indistinguishability needed for LTQO.

math-ph↗

arXiv2025

The charge gap is greater than the neutral gap in fractional quantum Hall systems

Past studies of fractional quantum Hall systems have found that the charge gap dominates the neutral gap for all relevant parameter choices. We report a wide-ranging proof that this domination is in fact a universal property of any Hamiltonian that satisfies a few simple structural properties: translation-invariance, charge conservation, dipole conservation, and a fractionally filled ground state. The result applies to both fermions and bosons. Our main tool is a new mathematical scheme, the gap comparison method, which provides a sequence of inequalities that relate the spectral gaps in successive particle number sectors. Our finding sheds new light on dipole conservation's profound effects on many-body physics.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Recursive spectral relations and the charge versus neutral gap in fractional quantum Hall systems

We consider quantum lattice Hamiltonians and derive recursive spectral relations bridging successive particle number sectors. One relation gives conditions under which the charge gap dominates the neutral gap. We verify these conditions under a triad of symmetries (translation-invariance, charge and dipole conservation) that are present, e.g., in periodic fractional quantum Hall systems. Thus, this gap domination, previously observed numerically, is a universal feature imposed by symmetry. A second relation yields a new induction-on-particle-number method for deriving spectral gaps. The results cover both bosons and fermions.

math-ph↗

arXiv2023

Remembrances of Derek William Robinson (25 June 1935 - 31 August 2021)

This arXiv submission is posted primarily to make available some additional material to what we prepared for the Derek Memorial article published in the Notices of the AMS. We start (with the permission of the AMS) with the text of our submission close to the final published version (which you can get online. After that we include some autobiographical notes that Derek dictated to Louisa Barnsley (whom we thank) during his final illness. Finally some unpublished notes Derek wrote on the history of his seminal monographs with Bratelli. We thank Marion Robinson for permission and encouragement to post these items.

math.HO↗

arXiv2023

Dynamical abelian anyons with bound states and scattering states

We introduce a family of quantum spin Hamiltonians on $\mathbb{Z}^2$ that can be regarded as perturbations of Kitaev's abelian quantum double models that preserve the gauge and duality symmetries of these models. We analyze in detail the sector with one electric charge and one magnetic flux and show that the spectrum in this sector consists of both bound states and scattering states of abelian anyons. Concretely, we have defined a family of lattice models in which abelian anyons arise naturally as finite-size quasi-particles with non-trivial dynamics that consist of a charge-flux pair. In particular, the anyons exhibit a non-trivial holonomy with a quantized phase, consistent with the gauge and duality symmetries of the Hamiltonian.

math-ph↗

arXiv2023

Stability of the bulk gap for frustration-free topologically ordered quantum lattice systems

We prove that uniformly small short-range perturbations do not close the bulk gap above the ground state of frustration-free quantum spin systems that satisfy a standard local topological quantum order condition. In contrast with earlier results, we do not require a positive lower bound for finite-system Hamiltonians uniform in the system size. To obtain this result, we adapt the Bravyi-Hastings-Michalakis strategy to the GNS representation of the infinite-system ground state.

math-ph↗

arXiv2022

From Lieb-Robinson Bounds to Automorphic Equivalence

I review the role of Lieb-Robinson bounds in characterizing and utilizing the locality properties of the Heisenberg dynamics of quantum lattice systems. In particular, I discuss two definitions of gapped ground state phases and show that they are essentially equivalent.

math-ph↗

arXiv2021

Dimerization in quantum spin chains with $O(n)$ symmetry

We consider quantum spins with $S\geq1$, and two-body interactions with $O(2S+1)$ symmetry. We discuss the ground state phase diagram of the one-dimensional system. We give a rigorous proof of dimerization for an open region of the phase diagram, for $S$ sufficiently large. We also prove the existence of a gap for excitations.

math-ph↗

arXiv2021

Quasi-Locality Bounds for Quantum Lattice Systems. Part II. Perturbations of Frustration-Free Spin Models with Gapped Ground States

We study the stability with respect to a broad class of perturbations of gapped ground state phases of quantum spin systems defined by frustration-free Hamiltonians. The core result of this work is a proof using the Bravyi-Hastings-Michalakis (BHM) strategy that under a condition of Local Topological Quantum Order, the bulk gap is stable under perturbations that decay at long distances faster than a stretched exponential. Compared to previous work we expand the class of frustration-free quantum spin models that can be handled to include models with more general boundary conditions, and models with discrete symmetry breaking. Detailed estimates allow us to formulate sufficient conditions for the validity of positive lower bounds for the gap that are uniform in the system size and that are explicit to some degree. We provide a survey of the BHM strategy following the approach of Michalakis and Zwolak, with alterations introduced to accommodate more general than just periodic boundary conditions and more general lattices. We express the fundamental condition known as LTQO by means of the notion of indistinguishability radius, which we introduce. Using the uniform finite-volume results we then proceed to study the thermodynamic limit. We first study the case of a unique limiting ground state and then also consider models with spontaneous breaking of a discrete symmetry. In the latter case, LTQO cannot hold for all local observables. However, for perturbations that preserve the symmetry, we show stability of the gap and the structure of the broken symmetry phases. We prove that the GNS Hamiltonian associated with each pure state has a non-zero spectral gap above the ground state.

math-ph↗

arXiv2021

A Lieb-Robinson bound for quantum spin chains with strong on-site impurities

We consider a quantum spin chain with nearest neighbor interactions and sparsely distributed on-site impurities. We prove commutator bounds for its Heisenberg dynamics which incorporate the coupling strengths of the impurities. The impurities are assumed to satisfy a minimum spacing, and each impurity has a non-degenerate spectrum. Our results are proven in a broadly applicable setting, both in finite volume and in thermodynamic limit. We apply our results to improve Lieb-Robinson bounds for the Heisenberg spin chain with a random, sparse transverse field drawn from a heavy-tailed distribution.

math-ph↗

arXiv2020

Slow propagation in some disordered quantum spin chains

We introduce the notion of transmission time to study the dynamics of disordered quantum spin chains and prove results relating its behavior to many-body localization properties. We also study two versions of the so-called Local Integrals of Motion (LIOM) representation of spin chain Hamiltonians and their relation to dynamical many-body localization. We prove that uniform-in-time dynamical localization expressed by a zero-velocity Lieb-Robinson bound implies the existence of a LIOM representation of the dynamics as well as a weak converse of this statement. We also prove that for a class of spin chains satisfying a form of exponential dynamical localization, sparse perturbations result in a dynamics in which transmission times diverge at least as a power law of distance, with a power for which we provide lower bound that diverges with increasing sparseness of the perturbation.

math-ph↗

arXiv2020

Low-complexity eigenstates of a $ν= 1/3$ fractional quantum Hall system

We identify the the ground-state of a truncated version of Haldane's pseudo-potential Hamiltonian in a thin cylinder geometry as being composed of exponentially many fragmented matrix product states. These states are constructed by lattice tilings and their properties are discussed. We also report on a proof of a spectral gap, which implies the incompressibility of the underlying fractional quantum Hall liquid at maximal filling $ν= 1/3$. Low-energy excitations and an extensive number of many-body scars at positive energy density, but nevertheless low complexity, are also identified using the concept of tilings.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Spectral Gaps and Incompressibility in a $ ν= 1/3 $ Fractional Quantum Hall System

We study an effective Hamiltonian for the standard $ν=1/3$ fractional quantum Hall system in the thin cylinder regime. We give a complete description of its ground state space in terms of what we call Fragmented Matrix Product States, which are labeled by a certain family of tilings of the one-dimensional lattice. We then prove that the model has a spectral gap above the ground states for a range of coupling constants that includes physical values. As a consequence of the gap we establish the incompressibility of the fractional quantum Hall states. We also show that all the ground states labeled by a tiling have a finite correlation length, for which we give an upper bound. We demonstrate by example, however, that not all superpositions of tiling states have exponential decay of correlations.

math-ph↗

arXiv2020

Lieb-Robinson bounds and strongly continuous dynamics for a class of many-body fermion systems in $\mathbb{R}^d$

We introduce a class of UV-regularized two-body interactions for fermions in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and prove a Lieb-Robinson estimate for the dynamics of this class of many-body systems. As a step toward this result, we also prove a propagation bound of Lieb-Robinson type for Schrödinger operators. We apply the propagation bound to prove the existence of infinite-volume dynamics as a strongly continuous group of automorphisms on the CAR algebra.

math-ph↗

arXiv2019

A dynamical Toric Code model with fusion and de-fusion

We introduce a two-parameter family of perturbations of Kitaev's Toric Code Model in which the anyonic excitations acquire an interesting dynamics. We study the dynamics of this model in the space of states with electric and magnetic charge both equal to 1 and find that the model exhibits both bound states and scattering states in a suitable region of the parameters. The bound state is a Majorana fermion with a dispersion relation of Dirac cone type. For a certain range of model parameters, we find that these bound states disappear in a continuum of scattering states at a critical value of the total momentum. The scattering states describe separate electric and magnetic anyons, which in this model each have a sin k dispersion relation.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Gapped PVBS models for all species numbers and dimensions

Product vacua with boundary states (PVBS) are cousins of the Heisenberg XXZ spin model and feature $n$ particle species on $\mathbb Z^d$. The PVBS models were originally introduced as toy models for the classification of ground state phases. A crucial ingredient for this classification is the existence of a spectral gap above the ground state sector. In this work, we derive a spectral gap for PVBS models at arbitrary species number $n$ and in arbitrary dimension $d$ in the perturbative regime of small anisotropy parameters. Instead of using the more common martingale method, the proof verifies a finite-size criterion in the spirit of Knabe.

math-ph↗

arXiv2019

A class of two-dimensional AKLT models with a gap

The AKLT spin chain is the prototypical example of a frustration-free quantum spin system with a spectral gap above its ground state. Affleck, Kennedy, Lieb, and Tasaki also conjectured that the two-dimensional version of their model on the hexagonal lattice exhibits a spectral gap. In this paper, we introduce a family of variants of the two-dimensional AKLT model depending on a positive integer $n$, which is defined by decorating the edges of the hexagonal lattice with one-dimensional AKLT spin chains of length $n$. We prove that these decorated models are gapped for all $n \geq 3$.

math-ph↗

arXiv2019

On the stability of charges in infinite quantum spin systems

We consider a theory of superselection sectors for infinite quantum spin systems, describing charges that can be approximately localized in cone-like regions. The primary examples we have in mind are the anyons (or charges) in topologically ordered models such as Kitaev's quantum double models and perturbations of such models. In order to cover the case of perturbed quantum double models, the Doplicher-Haag-Roberts approach, in which strict localization is assumed, has to be amended. To this end we consider endomorphisms of the observable algebra that are almost localized in cones. Under natural conditions on the reference ground state (which plays a role analogous to the vacuum state in relativistic theories), we obtain a braided tensor $C^*$-category describing the sectors. We also introduce a superselection criterion selecting excitations with energy below a threshold. When the threshold energy falls in a gap of the spectrum of the ground state, we prove stability of the entire superselection structure under perturbations that do not close the gap. We apply our results to prove that all essential properties of the anyons in Kitaev's abelian quantum double models are stable against perturbations.

math-ph↗