arXiv subjects

Catherine McCarthy

Publications and source records attributed to Catherine McCarthy.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Distinguishability Transitions from Global Quantum Snapshots

Quantum states generated by generic time evolution are locally featureless: local measurements return random outcomes that are identical for all states. However, global snapshots in the computational basis are surprisingly effective at distinguishing between quantum states. We explore the ability of Bayesian classifiers to discriminate between many random quantum states using a small number of measurement outcomes. We identify a phase transition in the ability of the classifier to distinguish between $k$ candidate states with $m$ shots controlled by the variable $x = m / \ln k$, and derive the threshold value $x_c$. We extend our results to low-depth circuits near the onset of anti-concentration, as well as to noisy circuits and phase-random states.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

Universal monitored dynamics in multimode bosonic systems

We propose a route to study monitored many-body dynamics in multimode bosonic systems using circuit quantum electrodynamics. In this experimental setting, we construct several bosonic models comprising brickwork circuits built from beam-splitter gates, local parity measurements, and optional on-site Hubbard interactions, and diagnose their monitored dynamics via ancilla purification and a learnability-based probe. Under parity measurements, generic gate sets exhibit behavior that is largely consistent with a conventional measurement-induced phase transition, while a special class of beam-splitter circuits shows an apparent critical-like high-measurement regime in which purification times scale linearly with system size. We show that for realistic noise, gate, and measurement rates, these signatures are observable with near-term circuit QED hardware.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Weak integrability breaking perturbations in classical integrable models on the lattice

We show how to systematically construct weak integrability breaking perturbations (WIBs) for classical integrable models on the lattice. These perturbations, which allow quasi-conserved quantities, have mostly been explored in quantum systems, where they are expected to delay the onset of thermalization and diffusive transport to timescales far exceeding those predicted by Fermi's golden rule. However, accessing such long-time dynamics in quantum models is computationally challenging. Classical integrable lattice models offer a complementary setting for probing transport and long-time dynamics under WIBs. In this work, we specialize our general framework to construct several families of WIBs for the Ishimori model, the Toda chain, and the Harmonic Oscillator Chain (HOC). Such constructions can help quantify how WIBs contribute to anomalous transport and serve as a benchmark for thermalization studies in perturbed integrable models. An important example is the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou (FPUT) model: Starting from the HOC, we show that the cubic nonlinearity (the alpha-FPUT interaction) is a genuine WIB perturbation. Using the integrals of motion (IoMs) of the Toda lattice, we explicitly construct corrections to the entire hierarchy of the HOC IoMs, thereby obtaining an infinite tower of quasi-conserved quantities for the alpha-FPUT chain. We further identify the corresponding adiabatic gauge potential (AGP) as a nontrivial trilocal generator in real space, and show that, more generally, any cubic, translationally invariant, momentum-conserving perturbation of the HOC admits such a generator and is therefore a WIB. Together with our transport and AGP-variance studies, our results provide a unified classical framework for weak integrability breaking and for diagnosing anomalous thermalization and transport in nearly integrable Hamiltonian lattice systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Subdiffusive transport in the Fredkin dynamical universality class

We identify a pseudolocal conserved charge in the Fredkin and Motzkin quantum spin chains and explore its consequences for the hydrodynamics of systems with Fredkin- or Motzkin-type kinetic constraints. We use this quantity to formulate an exact upper bound ${\cal O}(L^{-5/2})$ on the gap of the Fredkin and Motzkin spin chains. Our results establish that transport in kinetically constrained dynamical systems with Fredkin or Motzkin constraints is subdiffusive, with dynamical exponent $z \geq 5/2$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Slow crossover from superdiffusion to diffusion in isotropic spin chains

Finite-temperature spin transport in integrable isotropic spin chains (i.e., spin chains with continuous nonabelian symmetries) is known to be superdiffusive, with anomalous transport properties displaying remarkable robustness to isotropic integrability-breaking perturbations. Using a discrete-time classical model, we numerically study the crossover to conventional diffusion resulting from both noisy and Floquet isotropic perturbations of strength $λ$. We identify an anomalously-long crossover time scale $t_\star \sim λ^{-α}$ with $α\approx 6$ in both cases. We discuss our results in terms of a kinetic theory of transport that characterizes the lifetimes of large solitons responsible for superdiffusion.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗