arXiv subjects

Catalin Pascu Moca

Publications and source records attributed to Catalin Pascu Moca.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Nonequilibrium full counting statistics of multicomponent strongly-interacting quantum gases with defects

We investigate the full counting statistics of a one-dimensional multicomponent impenetrable gas released from a bipartite state in the presence of a local defect. Spin--charge separation reduces the multivariate generating function to an exact Fredholm determinant whose kernel is built from time-evolved single-particle orbitals. Expressing these orbitals in terms of scattering data gives access to both transient dynamics and the nonequilibrium steady state. We derive the leading long-time asymptotics and identify persistent oscillations in densities and currents caused by multiple bound states at the junction. We argue that interactions between components lead to a linear low-temperature correction to the current, in contrast to the quadratic correction in the single-component case. At equilibrium, we obtain the M-Wright distribution of spin transfer with $t^{1/4}$ scaling.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Emergent modular Luttinger liquid from spin-partitioned entanglement in the one-dimensional Hubbard model

We study the spin-partitioned entanglement Hamiltonian of the one-dimensional repulsive Hubbard model. By combining bosonization with exact diagonalization, we show that tracing out one spin species produces a modular Luttinger liquid, whose properties fundamentally differ from those of the physical system. While the modular spectrum is fully dispersionless and possesses a momentum-independent entanglement gap, its eigenstates exhibit algebraic correlations governed by a single effective Luttinger parameter equal to the geometric mean of the charge and spin Luttinger parameters. The resulting entanglement spectrum displays a universal branching hierarchy in excellent agreement with exact diagonalization. We further demonstrate that the modular ground state is nearly identical to that of the spinless Luttinger liquid. These results uncover a universal modular structure in interacting one-dimensional fermionic systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Mimicry of chaos and $k$-design in higher order OTOCs of Luttinger liquids

Out-of-time-order correlators (OTOCs) provide a fundamental metric for quantum chaos, but capturing the fine structure of information scrambling requires exploring their higher-order generalizations. Here, we systematically investigate the sequence of higher-order OTOCs in a Luttinger liquid and its lattice realization, the XXZ Heisenberg chain. Using bosonization and numerics, we extract the full temporal dynamics of the first three OTOCs, revealing that they rapidly erase memory of the initial state, and quickly saturate to their steady state values. Strikingly, we show that calculating the late time saturation values for the entire sequence of higher-order OTOCs maps exactly onto determining the partition function of a non-Hermitian Harper model. Through this mapping, we demonstrate that for moderately strong interactions, the steady-state OTOCs become parametrically small up to the seventh order, mimicking higher $k$-design. Our results reveal that Luttinger liquids exhibit an unexpectedly profound degree of apparent scrambling when viewed through the lens of higher-order OTOCs.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Anomalous Quantum Relaxation in the Infinite Temperature Hubbard Chain

The self-energy encodes the fundamental lifetime of quasiparticle excitations. In one dimension, it is known to display anomalous behavior at zero temperature for interacting fermions, reflecting the breakdown of Fermi-liquid theory. Here we show that the self-energy is also anomalous in the infinite temperature Hubbard chain, where thermal fluctuations are maximal. Focusing on the second order ring diagram, we find that the imaginary part of the self-energy diverges non-perturbatively: as a power law with exponent $-1/3$ near half filling, and logarithmically away from it. These divergences imply anomalous temporal relaxation of Green's functions, confirmed by infinite temperature tensor-network simulations. Our results demonstrate that anomalous relaxation and the breakdown of perturbation theory survive even at maximal entropy, which can be observed in cold-atom experiments probing the Hubbard chain at high temperatures.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Infinite temperature spin dynamics in the asymmetric Hatsugai-Kohmoto model

We focus on the infinite temperature dynamical spin structure factor of the asymmetric Hatsugai-Kohmoto model, the relative of the asymmetric Hubbard model. It is characterized by distinct single particle energies for the two spin species, which interact with each other through a contact interaction in momentum space. We evaluate its spin structure factor exactly and follow the evolution of its excitation spectrum for all fillings and interactions, identify signatures of the Mott transition and fingerprints of the asymmetric hoppings. The longitudinal spin structure factor exhibits sound like and interaction induced gapped excitations, whose number gets doubled in the presence of hopping asymmetry. The transverse response displays the competition of interaction and asymmetry induced gaps and results in a quadratic excitation branch at their transition. The complete asymmetric case features momentum-independent dynamical structure factor, characteristic to transitions involving a flat band.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Non-hermitian off-diagonal magnetic response of Dirac fermions

We perform a comparative study for the magnetization dynamics within linear response theory of one and two dimensional massive Dirac electrons, after switching on either a real (hermitian) or an imaginary (non-hermitian) magnetic field. While hermitian dc magnetic fields polarize the spins in the direction of the external magnetic field, non-hermitian magnetic fields induce only off diagonal response. An imaginary dc magnetic field perpendicular to the mass term induces finite magnetization in the third direction only according to the right hand rule. This can be understood by analyzing the non-hermitian equation of motion of the spin, which becomes analogous to a classical particle in crossed electric and magnetic fields. Therein, the spin expectation value, the mass term and imaginary magnetic field play the role of the classical momentum, magnetic and electric field, respectively. The latter two create a drift velocity perpendicular to them, which gives rise to the off-diagonal component of the dc spin susceptibility, similarly to how the Hall effect develops in the classical description.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Correlations at PT-symmetric quantum critical point

We consider a PT-symmetric Fermi gas with an exceptional point, representing the critical point between PT-symmetric and symmetry broken phases. The low energy spectrum remains linear in momentum and is identical to that of a hermitian Fermi gas. The fermionic Green's function decays in a power law fashion for large distances, as expected from gapless excitations, albeit the exponent is reduced from $-1$ due to the quantum Zeno effect. In spite of the gapless nature of the excitations, the ground state entanglement entropy saturates to a finite value, independent of the subsystem size due to the non-hermitian correlation length intrinsic to the system. Attractive or repulsive interaction drives the system into the PT-symmetry broken regime or opens up a gap and protects PT-symmetry, respectively. Our results challenge the concept of universality in non-hermitian systems, where quantum criticality can be masked due to non-hermiticity.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Vaporization dynamics of a dissipative quantum liquid

We investigate the stability of a Luttinger liquid, upon suddenly coupling it to a dissipative environment. Within the Lindblad equation, the environment couples to local currents and heats the quantum liquid up to infinite temperatures. The single particle density matrix reveals the fractionalization of fermionic excitations in the spatial correlations by retaining the initial non-integer power law exponents, accompanied by an exponential decay in time with interaction dependent rate. The spectrum of the time evolved density matrix is gapped, which collapses gradually as $-\ln(t)$. The von Neumann entropy crosses over from the early time $-t\ln(t)$ behaviour to $\ln(t)$ growth for late times. The early time dynamics is captured numerically by performing simulations on spinless interacting fermions, using several numerically exact methods. Our results could be tested experimentally in bosonic Luttinger liquids.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Quantum quench in PT-symmetric Luttinger liquid

A Luttinger liquid (LL) describes low energy excitations of many interacting one dimensional systems, and exhibits universal response both in and out of equilibrium. We analyze its behaviour in the non-hermitian realm after quantum quenching to a PT-symmetric LL by focusing on the fermionic single particle density matrix. For short times, we demonstrate the emergence of unique phenomena, characteristic to non-hermitian systems, that correlations propagate faster than the conventional maximal speed, known as the Lieb-Robinson bound. These emergent supersonic modes travel with velocities that are multiples of the conventional light-cone velocity. This behaviour is argued to be generic for correlators in non-hermitian systems. In the long time limit, we find typical LL behaviour, extending the LL universality to the non-equilibrium non-hermitian case. Our analytical results are benchmarked numerically and indicate that the dispersal of quantum information is much faster in non-hermitian systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Dissipation induced Luttinger liquid correlations in a one dimensional Fermi gas

We study a one-dimensional Fermi gas in the presence of dissipative coupling to environment through the Lindblad equation. The dissipation involves energy exchange with the environment and favours the relaxation of electrons to excitations. After switching on the dissipation, the system approaches a steady state, which is described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble. The fermionic single particle density matrix resembles deceivingly to that in a hermitian interaction quench. It decays inversely with the distance for short times due to the fermionic correlations in the initial state, which changes into a non-integer power law decay for late times, representing dissipation induced Luttinger liquid behaviour. However, the crossover between the two regions occurs due to dissipation induced damping, and is unrelated to the propagation of excitations. The velocity of information spreading is set by the dissipative coupling, and differs significantly from the original sound velocity. The thermodynamic entropy grows as $-t\ln t$ initially, and saturates to an extensive value. Our results can be tested experimentally in one-dimensional Dirac systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Semiclassical theory of front propagation and front equilibration following an inhomogeneous quantum quench

We use a semiclassical approach to study out of equilibrium dynamics and transport in quantum systems with massive quasiparticle excitations having internal quantum numbers. In the universal limit of low energy quasiparticles, the system is described in terms of a classical gas of colored hard-core particles. Starting from an inhomogeneous initial state, in this limit we give analytic expressions for the space and time dependent spin density and spin current profiles. Depending on the initial state, the spin transport is found to be ballistic or diffusive. In the ballistic case we identify a `second front' that moves more slowly than the maximal quasiparticle velocity. Our analytic results also capture the diffusive broadening of this ballistically propagating front. To go beyond the universal limit, we study the effect of non-trivial scattering processes in the $O(3)$ non-linear sigma model by performing Monte Carlo simulations, and observe local equilibration around the second front in terms of the densities of the particle species.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Hybrid semiclassical theory of quantum quenches in one dimensional systems

We develop a hybrid semiclassical method to study the time evolution of one dimensional quantum systems in and out of equilibrium. Our method handles internal degrees of freedom completely quantum mechanically by a modified time evolving block decimation method, while treating orbital quasiparticle motion classically. We can follow dynamics up to timescales well beyond the reach of standard numerical methods to observe the crossover between pre-equilibrated and locally phase equilibrated states. As an application, we investigate the quench dynamics and phase fluctuations of a pair of tunnel coupled one dimensional Bose condensates. We demonstrate the emergence of soliton-collision induced phase propagation, soliton-entropy production and multistep thermalization. Our method can be applied to a wide range of gapped one-dimensional systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

At which magnetic field, exactly, does the Kondo resonance begin to split? A Fermi liquid description of the low-energy properties of the Anderson model

This paper is a corrected version of Phys. Rev. B 95, 165404 (2017), which we have retracted because it contained a trivial but fatal sign error that lead to incorrect conclusions. --- We extend a recently-eveloped Fermi-liquid (FL) theory for the asymmetric single-impurity Anderson model [C. Mora $et al.$, Phys. Rev. B, 92, 075120 (2015)] to the case of an arbitrary local magnetic field. To describe the system's low-lying quasiparticle excitations for arbitrary values of the bare Hamiltonian's model parameters, we construct an effective low-energy FL Hamiltonian whose FL parameters are expressed in terms of the local level's spin-dependent ground-state occupations and their derivatives with respect to level energy and local magnetic field. These quantities are calculable with excellent accuracy from the Bethe Ansatz solution of the Anderson model. Applying this effective model to a quantum dot in a nonequilibrium setting, we obtain exact results for the curvature of the spectral function, $c_A$, describing its leading $\sim\varepsilon^2$ term, and the transport coefficients $c_V$ and $c_T$, describing the leading $\sim V^2$ and $\sim T^2$ terms in the nonlinear differential conductance. A sign change in $c_A$ or $c_V$ is indicative of a change from a local maximum to a local minimum in the spectral function or nonlinear conductance, respectively, as is expected to occur when an increasing magnetic field causes the Kondo resonance to split into two subpeaks. We find that the fields $B_A$, $B_T$ and $B_V$ at which $c_A$, $c_T$ and $c_V$ change sign, respectively, are all of order $T_K$, as expected, with $B_A = B_T = B_V = 0.75073\,T_K$ in the Kondo limit.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Statistics and dynamics of the center of mass coordinate in a quantum liquid

Motivated by recent experiments in ultracold gases, we focus on the properties of the center of mass coordinate of an interacting one dimensional Fermi gas, displaying several distinct phases. While the variance of the center of mass vanishes in insulating phases such as phase separated and charge density wave phases, it remains finite in the metallic phase, which realizes a Luttinger liquid. By combining numerics with bosonization, we demonstrate that the autocorrelation function of the center of mass coordinate is universal throughout the metallic phase. It exhibits persistent oscillations and its short time dynamics reveal important features of the quantum liquid, such as the Luttinger liquid parameter and the renormalized velocity. The full counting statistics of the center of mass follows a normal distribution already for small systems. Our results apply to non-integrable systems as well and are within experimental reach for e.g. carbon nanotubes and cold atomic gases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Imaging the Wigner Crystal of Electrons in One Dimension

The quantum crystal of electrons, predicted more than eighty years ago by Eugene Wigner, is still one of the most elusive states of matter. Here, we present experiments that observe the one-dimensional Wigner crystal directly, by imaging its charge density in real-space. To measure this fragile state without perturbing it, we developed a new scanning probe platform that utilizes a pristine carbon nanotube as a scanning charge perturbation to image, with minimal invasiveness, the many-body electronic density within another nanotube. The obtained images, of few electrons confined in one-dimension, match those of strongly interacting crystals, with electrons ordered like pearls on a necklace. Comparison to theoretical modeling demonstrates the dominance of Coulomb interactions over kinetic energy and the weakness of exchange interactions. Our experiments provide direct evidence for this long-sought electronic state, and open the way for studying other fragile interacting states by imaging their many-body density in real-space.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Exploring the Kondo model in and out of equilibrium with alkaline-earth atoms

We propose a scheme to realize the Kondo model with tunable anisotropy using alkaline-earth atoms in an optical lattice. The new feature of our setup is Floquet engineering of interactions using time-dependent Zeeman shifts, that can be realized either using state-dependent optical Stark shifts or magnetic fields. The properties of the resulting Kondo model strongly depend on the anisotropy of the ferromagnetic interactions. In particular, easy-plane couplings give rise to Kondo singlet formation even though microscopic interactions are all ferromagnetic. We discuss both equilibrium and dynamical properties of the system that can be measured with ultracold atoms, including the impurity spin susceptibility, the impurity spin relaxation rate, as well as the equilibrium and dynamical spin correlations between the impurity and the ferromagnetic bath atoms. We analyze the non-equilibrium time evolution of the system using a variational non-Gaussian approach, which allows us to explore coherent dynamics over both short and long timescales, as set by the bandwidth and the Kondo singlet formation, respectively. In the quench-type experiments, when the Kondo interaction is suddenly switched on, we find that real-time dynamics shows crossovers reminiscent of poor man's renormalization group flow used to describe equilibrium systems. For bare easy-plane ferromagnetic couplings, this allows us to follow the formation of the Kondo screening cloud as the dynamics crosses over from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic behavior. On the other side of the phase diagram, our scheme makes it possible to measure quantum corrections to the well-known Korringa law describing the temperature dependence of the impurity spin relaxation rate. Theoretical results discussed in our paper can be measured using currently available experimental techniques.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Information scrambling at an impurity quantum critical point

The two-channel Kondo impurity model realizes a local non-Fermi liquid state with finite residual entropy. The competition between the two channels drives the system to an impurity quantum critical point. We show that the out-of-time-ordered (OTO) commutator for the impurity spin reveals markedly distinct behaviour depending on the low energy impurity state. For the one channel Kondo model with Fermi liquid ground state, the OTO commutator vanishes for late times, indicating the absence of the butterfly effect. For the two channel case, the impurity OTO commutator is completely temperature independent and saturates quickly to its upper bound 1/4, and the butterfly effect is maximally enhanced. These compare favourably to numerics on spin chain representation of the Kondo model. Our results imply that a large late time value of the OTO commutator does not necessarily diagnose quantum chaos.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

The SU(4) Kondo effect in double quantum dots with ferromagnetic leads

We investigate the spin-resolved transport properties, such as the linear conductance and the tunnel magnetoresistance, of a double quantum dot device attached to ferromagnetic leads and look for signatures of SU(4) symmetry in the Kondo regime. We show that the transport behavior greatly depends on the magnetic configuration of the device, and the spin-SU(2) as well as the orbital and spin-SU(4) Kondo effects become generally suppressed when the magnetic configuration of the leads varies from the antiparallel to the parallel one. Furthermore, a finite spin polarization of the leads lifts the spin degeneracy and drives the system from the SU(4) to an orbital-SU(2) Kondo state. We analyze in detail the crossover and show that the Kondo temperature between the two fixed points has a non-monotonic dependence on the degree of spin polarization of the leads. In terms of methods used, we characterize transport by using a combination of analytical and numerical renormalization group approaches.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗