arXiv subjects

Curt von Keyserlingk

Publications and source records attributed to Curt von Keyserlingk.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Finite-temperature quantum topological order in three dimensions

We identify a three-dimensional system that exhibits long-range entanglement at sufficiently small but nonzero temperature--it therefore constitutes a quantum topological order at finite temperature. The model of interest is known as the fermionic toric code, a variant of the usual 3D toric code, which admits emergent fermionic point-like excitations. The fermionic toric code, importantly, possesses an anomalous 2-form symmetry, associated with the space-like Wilson loops of the fermionic excitations. We argue that it is this symmetry that imbues low-temperature thermal states with a novel topological order and long-range entanglement. Based on the current classification of three-dimensional topological orders, we expect that the low-temperature thermal states of the fermionic toric code belong to an equilibrium phase of matter that only exists at nonzero temperatures. We conjecture that further examples of topological orders at nonzero temperatures are given by discrete gauge theories with anomalous 2-form symmetries. Our work therefore opens the door to studying quantum topological order at nonzero temperature in physically realistic dimensions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Emergent random matrix universality in quantum operator dynamics

The high complexity of many-body quantum dynamics means that essentially all approaches either exploit special structure or are approximate in nature. One such approach--the memory function formalism--involves a carefully chosen split into fast and slow modes. An approximate model for the fast modes can then be used to solve for Green's functions $G(z)$ of the slow modes. Using a formulation in operator Krylov space known as the recursion method, we prove the emergence of a universal random matrix description of the fast mode dynamics. This is captured by the level-$n$ Green's function $G_n (z)$, which we show approaches universal scaling forms in the fast limit $n\to\infty$. Notably, this emergent universality can occur in both chaotic and non-chaotic systems, provided their spectral functions are smooth. This universality of $G_n (z)$ is precisely analogous to the universality of eigenvalue correlations in random matrix theory (RMT), even though there is no explicit randomness present in the Hamiltonian. At finite $z$ we show that $G_n (z)$ approaches the Wigner semicircle law, while if $G(z)$ is the Green's function of certain hydrodynamical variables, we show that at low frequencies $G_n (z)$ is instead governed by the Bessel universality class from RMT. As an application of this universality, we give a numerical method--the spectral bootstrap--for approximating spectral functions from Lanczos coefficients. Our proof involves a map to a Riemann-Hilbert problem which we solve using a steepest-descent-type method, rigorously controlled in the $n\to\infty$ limit. We are led via steepest-descent to a Coulomb gas optimization problem, and we discuss how a recent conjecture--the `Operator Growth Hypothesis--is linked to a confinement transition in this Coulomb gas. These results elevate the recursion method to a theoretically principled framework with universal content.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Breakdown of Fermi's Golden Rule in 1d systems at non-zero temperature

In interacting quantum systems, the single-particle Green's function is expected to decay in time due to the interaction induced decoherence of quasiparticles. In the limit of weak interaction strengths ($Δ$), a naive application of Fermi's Golden Rule (FGR) predicts an $\mathcal{O}(Δ^{2})$ quasiparticle decay rate. However, for 1d fermions on the lattice at $T>0$, this calculation gives a divergent result and the scaling of the quasiparticle lifetime with interaction strength remains an open question. In this work we propose a solution to this question: combining numerical simulations using the recently introduced dissipation-assisted operator evolution (DAOE) method, with non-perturbative diagrammatic re-summations, we predict a logarithmic enhancement of the quasiparticle decay rate $τ^{-1} \sim Δ^{2} \log Δ^{-2}$. We argue that this effect is present in a wide variety of well-known weakly interacting quantum fermionic and bosonic systems, and even in some classical systems, provided the non-interacting limit has quasiparticles with a generic dispersion.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Subexponential decay of local correlations from diffusion-limited dephasing

Chaotic quantum systems at finite energy density are expected to act as their own heat baths, rapidly dephasing local quantum superpositions. We argue that in fact this dephasing is subexponential for chaotic dynamics with conservation laws in one spatial dimension: all local correlation functions decay as stretched exponentials or slower. The stretched exponential bound is saturated for operators that are orthogonal to all hydrodynamic modes. This anomalous decay is a quantum coherent effect, which lies beyond standard fluctuating hydrodynamics; it vanishes in the presence of extrinsic dephasing. Our arguments are general, subject principally to the assumption that there exist zero-entropy charge sectors (such as the particle vacuum) with no nontrivial dynamics: slow relaxation is due to the persistence of regions resembling these inert vacua, which we term "voids". In systems with energy conservation, this assumption is automatically satisfied because of the third law of thermodynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Approximation theory for Green's functions via the Lanczos algorithm

It is known that Green's functions can be expressed as continued fractions; the content at the $n$-th level of the fraction is encoded in a coefficient $b_n$, which can be recursively obtained using the Lanczos algorithm. We present a theory concerning errors in approximating Green's functions using continued fractions when only the first $N$ coefficients are known exactly. Our focus lies on the stitching approximation (also known as the recursion method), wherein truncated continued fractions are completed with a sequence of coefficients for which exact solutions are available. We assume a now standard conjecture about the growth of the Lanczos coefficients in chaotic many-body systems, and that the stitching approximation converges to the correct answer. Given these assumptions, we show that the rate of convergence of the stitching approximation to a Green's function depends strongly on the decay of staggered subleading terms in the Lanczos cofficients. Typically, the decay of the error term ranges from $1/\mathrm{poly}(N)$ in the best case to $1/\mathrm{poly}(\log N)$ in the worst case, depending on the differentiability of the spectral function at the origin. We present different variants of this error estimate for different asymptotic behaviours of the $b_n$, and we also conjecture a relationship between the asymptotic behavior of the $b_n$'s and the smoothness of the Green's function. Lastly, with the above assumptions, we prove a formula linking the spectral function's value at the origin to a product of continued fraction coefficients, which we then apply to estimate the diffusion constant in the mixed field Ising model.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Enforced Gaplessness from States with Exponentially Decaying Correlations

It is well known that an exponentially localized Hamiltonian must be gapless if its ground state has algebraic correlations. We show that even certain exponentially decaying correlations can imply gaplessness. This is exemplified by the deformed toric code $\propto \exp(β\sum_{\ell} Z_{\ell}) |\mathsf{TC}\rangle$, where $|\mathsf{TC}\rangle$ is a fixed-point toric code wavefunction. Although it has a confined regime for $β> β_c$, recent work has drawn attention to its perimeter law loop correlations. Here, we show that these unusual loop correlations -- namely, perimeter law coexisting with a 1-form symmetry whose disorder operator has long-range order -- imply that any local parent Hamiltonian must either be gapless or have a degeneracy scaling with system size. Moreover, we construct a variational low-energy state for arbitrary local frustration-free Hamiltonians, upper bounding the finite-size gap by $O(1/L^3)$ on periodic boundary conditions. Strikingly, these variational states look like loop waves -- non-quasiparticle analogs of spin waves -- generated from the ground state by non-local loop operators. Our findings have implications for identifying the subset of Hilbert space to which gapped ground states belong, and the techniques have wide applicability. For instance, a corollary of our first result is that Glauber dynamics for the ordered phase of the two-dimensional classical Ising model on the torus must have a gapless Markov transition matrix, with our second result bounding its gap.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Measurement-induced phase transitions in quantum inference problems and quantum hidden Markov models

Recently, there is interest in coincident 'sharpening' and 'learnability' transitions in monitored quantum systems. In the latter, an outside observer's ability to infer properties of a quantum system from measurements undergoes a phase transition. Such transitions appear to be related to the decodability transition in quantum error correction, but the precise connection is not clear. Here, we study these problems under one framework we call the general quantum inference problem. In cases as above where the system has a Markov structure, we say that the inference is on a quantum hidden Markov model. We show a formal connection to classical hidden Markov models and that they coincide for certain setups. For example, we prove this for those involving Haar-random unitaries and measurements. We introduce the notion of Bayes non-optimality, where parameters used for inference differs from true ones. This allows us to expand the phase diagrams of above models. At Bayes optimality, we obtain an explicit relation between 'sharpening' and 'learnability' order parameters, explicitly showing that the two transitions coincide. Next, we study concrete examples. We review quantum error correction on the toric and repetition code and their mapping to 2D random-bond Ising model (RBIM) through our framework. We study the Haar-random U(1)-symmetric monitored quantum circuit and tree, mapping each to inference models that we call the planted SSEP and planted XOR, respectively, and expanding the phase diagram to Bayes non-optimality. For the circuit, we deduce the phase boundary numerically and analytically argue that it is of a single universality class. For the tree, we present an exact solution of the entire phase boundary, which displays re-entrance as does the 2D RBIM. We discuss these phase diagrams, with their interpretations for quantum inference problems and rigorous arguments on their shapes.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Thermalization rates and quantum Ruelle-Pollicott resonances: insights from operator hydrodynamics

In thermalizing many-body quantum systems without conservation laws such as ergodic Floquet and random unitary circuits, local expectation values are predicted to decay to their equilibrium values exponentially quickly. In this work we derive a relationship between said exponential decay rate $\overline{g}$ and the operator spreading properties of a local unitary evolution. A hydrodynamical picture for operator spreading allows us to argue that, for random unitary circuits, $\overline{g}$ is encoded by the leading eigenvalue of a dynamical map obtained by enriching unitary dynamics with dissipation, in the limit of weak dissipation. We argue that the size of the eigenvalue does not depend on the details of this weak dissipation (given mild assumptions on properties of the ergodic dynamics), so long as it only suppresses large operators significantly. Our calculations are based on analytical results for random unitary circuits, but we argue that similar results hold for ergodic Floquet systems. These conjectures are in accordance with existing results which numerically obtain quantum many-body analogues of classical Ruelle-Pollicott resonances [T. Prosen J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 35 L737 (2002), T. Mori, arXiv:2311.10304] by studying unitary evolutions subject to weak dissipation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Structural Stability Hypothesis of Dual Unitary Quantum Chaos

Having spectral correlations that, over small enough energy scales, are described by random matrix theory is regarded as the most general defining feature of quantum chaotic systems as it applies in the many-body setting and away from any semiclassical limit. Although this property is extremely difficult to prove analytically for generic many-body systems, a rigorous proof has been achieved for dual-unitary circuits -- a special class of local quantum circuits that remain unitary upon swapping space and time. Here we consider the fate of this property when moving from dual-unitary to generic quantum circuits focussing on the \emph{spectral form factor}, i.e., the Fourier transform of the two-point correlation. We begin with a numerical survey that, in agreement with previous studies, suggests that there exists a finite region in parameter space where dual-unitary physics is stable and spectral correlations are still described by random matrix theory, although up to a maximal quasienergy scale. To explain these findings, we develop a perturbative expansion: it recovers the random matrix theory predictions, provided the terms occurring in perturbation theory obey a relatively simple set of assumptions. We then provide numerical evidence and a heuristic analytical argument supporting these assumptions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Probing hydrodynamic crossovers with dissipation-assisted operator evolution

Using artificial dissipation to tame entanglement growth, we chart the emergence of diffusion in a generic interacting lattice model for varying U(1) charge densities. We follow the crossover from ballistic to diffusive transport above a scale set by the scattering length, finding the intuitive result that the diffusion constant scales as $D \propto 1/ρ$ at low densities $ρ$. Our numerical approach generalizes the Dissipation-Assisted Operator Evolution (DAOE) algorithm: in the spirit of the BBGKY hierarchy, we effectively approximate non-local operators by their ensemble averages, rather than discarding them entirely. This greatly reduces the operator entanglement entropy, while still giving accurate predictions for diffusion constants across all density scales. We further construct a minimal model for the transport crossover, yielding charge correlation functions which agree well with our numerical data. Our results clarify the dominant contributions to hydrodynamic correlation functions of conserved densities, and serve as a guide for generalizations to low temperature transport.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Diffusive entanglement growth in a monitored harmonic chain

We study entanglement growth in a harmonic oscillator chain subjected to the weak measurement of observables which have been smeared-out over a length scale $R$. We find that entanglement grows diffusively ($S \sim t^{1/2}$) for a large class of initial Gaussian states provided the measurement scale $R$ is sufficiently large. At late times $t \gtrsim \mathcal{O}(L^{2})$ the entropy relaxes towards an area-law value which we compute exactly. We propose a modified quasi-particle picture which accounts for all of these main features and agrees quantitatively well with our essentially exact numerical results. The quasiparticles are associated with the modes of a non-Hermitian effective Hamiltonian. At small wave-vector $k$, the quasiparticles transport entropy with a finite velocity, but have a lifetime scaling as $1/k^2$; the concurrence of these two conditions leads directly to the observed $t^{1/2}$ growth.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Defining stable phases of open quantum systems

The steady states of dynamical processes can exhibit stable nontrivial phases, which can also serve as fault-tolerant classical or quantum memories. For Markovian quantum (classical) dynamics, these steady states are extremal eigenvectors of the non-Hermitian operators that generate the dynamics, i.e., quantum channels (Markov chains). However, since these operators are non-Hermitian, their spectra are an unreliable guide to dynamical relaxation timescales or to stability against perturbations. We propose an alternative dynamical criterion for a steady state to be in a stable phase, which we name uniformity: informally, our criterion amounts to requiring that, under sufficiently small local perturbations of the dynamics, the unperturbed and perturbed steady states are related to one another by a finite-time dissipative evolution. We show that this criterion implies many of the properties one would want from any reasonable definition of a phase. We prove that uniformity is satisfied in a canonical classical cellular automaton, and provide numerical evidence that the gap determines the relaxation rate between nearby steady states in the same phase, a situation we conjecture holds generically whenever uniformity is satisfied. We further conjecture some sufficient conditions for a channel to exhibit uniformity and therefore stability.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

The ballistic to diffusive crossover in a weakly-interacting Fermi gas

Charge and energy are expected to diffuse in interacting systems of fermions at finite temperatures, even in the absence of disorder, with the interactions inducing a crossover from the coherent and ballistic streaming of quasi-particles at early times, to incoherent diffusive behavior at late times. The relevant crossover timescales and the transport coefficients are both controlled by the strength of interactions. In this work we develop a numerical method to simulate such systems at high temperatures, applicable in a wide range of interaction strengths, by adapting Dissipation-assisted Operator Evolution (DAOE) to fermions. Our fermion DAOE, which approximates the exact dynamics by systematically discarding information from high $n$-point functions, is tailored to capture non-interacting dynamics exactly, thus providing a good starting point for the weakly interacting problem. Applying our method to a microscopic model of weakly interacting fermions, we numerically demonstrate that the crossover from ballistic to diffusive transport happens at a time $t_D\sim1/Δ^{2}$ and that the diffusion constant similarly scales as $D \sim 1/Δ^2$, where $Δ$ is the interaction strength. We substantiate this scaling with a Fermi's golden rule calculation in the operator spreading picture, interpreting $t_D$ as the fermion-fermion scattering time and lifetime of the single-particle Green's function.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

The operator growth hypothesis in open quantum systems

The operator growth hypothesis (OGH) is a technical conjecture about the behaviour of operators -- specifically, the asymptotic growth of their Lanczos coefficients -- under repeated action by a Liouvillian. It is expected to hold for a sufficiently generic closed many-body system. When it holds, it yields bounds on the high frequency behavior of local correlation functions and measures of chaos (like OTOCs). It also gives a route to numerically estimating response functions. Here we investigate the generalisation of OGH to open quantum systems, where the Liouvillian is replaced by a Lindbladian. For a quantum system with local Hermitian jump operators, we show that the OGH is modified: we define a generalisation of the Lanczos coefficient and show that it initially grows linearly as in the original OGH, but experiences exponentially growing oscillations on scales determined by the dissipation strength. We see this behavior manifested in a semi-analytically solvable model (large-q SYK with dissipation), numerically for an ergodic spin chain, and in a solvable toy model for operator growth in the presence of dissipation (which resembles a non-Hermitian single-particle hopping process). Finally, we show that the modified OGH connects to a fundamental difference between Lindblad and closed systems: at high frequencies, the spectral functions of the former decay algebraically, while in the latter they decay exponentially. This is an experimentally testable statement, which also places limitations on the applicability of Lindbladians to systems in contact with equilibrium environments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Operator hydrodynamics, OTOCs, and entanglement growth in systems without conservation laws

Thermalization and scrambling are the subject of much recent study from the perspective of many-body quantum systems with locally bounded Hilbert spaces (`spin chains'), quantum field theory and holography. We tackle this problem in 1D spin-chains evolving under random local unitary circuits and prove a number of exact results on the behavior of out-of-time-ordered commutators (OTOCs), and entanglement growth in this setting. These results follow from the observation that the spreading of operators in random circuits is described by a `hydrodynamical' equation of motion, despite the fact that random unitary circuits do not have locally conserved quantities (e.g., no conserved energy). In this hydrodynamic picture quantum information travels in a front with a `butterfly velocity' $v_{\text{B}}$ that is smaller than the light cone velocity of the system, while the front itself broadens diffusively in time. The OTOC increases sharply after the arrival of the light cone, but we do \emph{not} observe a prolonged exponential regime of the form $\sim e^{λ_\text{L}(t-x/v)}$ for a fixed Lyapunov exponent $λ_\text{L}$. We find that the diffusive broadening of the front has important consequences for entanglement growth, leading to an entanglement velocity that can be significantly smaller than the butterfly velocity. We conjecture that the hydrodynamical description applies to more generic ergodic systems and support this by verifying numerically that the diffusive broadening of the operator wavefront also holds in a more traditional non-random Floquet spin-chain. We also compare our results to Clifford circuits, which have less rich hydrodynamics and consequently trivial OTOC behavior, but which can nevertheless exhibit linear entanglement growth and thermalization.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Field Theories for Gauged Symmetry Protected Topological Phases: Abelian Gauge Theories with non-Abelian Quasiparticles

Dijkgraaf-Witten (DW) theories are of recent interest to the condensed matter community, in part because they represent topological phases of matter, but also because they characterize the response theory of certain symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases. However, as yet there has not been a comprehensive treatment of the spectra of these models in the field theoretic setting -- the goal of this work is to fill the gap in the literature, at least for a selection of DW models with abelian gauge groups but non-abelian topological order. As applications, various correlation functions and fusion rules of line operators are calculated. We discuss for example the appearance of non-abelian statistics in DW theories with abelian gauge groups.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Observation of discrete time-crystalline order in a disordered dipolar many-body system

Understanding quantum dynamics away from equilibrium is an outstanding challenge in the modern physical sciences. It is well known that out-of-equilibrium systems can display a rich array of phenomena, ranging from self-organized synchronization to dynamical phase transitions. More recently, advances in the controlled manipulation of isolated many-body systems have enabled detailed studies of non-equilibrium phases in strongly interacting quantum matter. As a particularly striking example, the interplay of periodic driving, disorder, and strong interactions has recently been predicted to result in exotic "time-crystalline" phases, which spontaneously break the discrete time-translation symmetry of the underlying drive. Here, we report the experimental observation of such discrete time-crystalline order in a driven, disordered ensemble of $\sim 10^6$ dipolar spin impurities in diamond at room-temperature. We observe long-lived temporal correlations at integer multiples of the fundamental driving period, experimentally identify the phase boundary and find that the temporal order is protected by strong interactions; this order is remarkably stable against perturbations, even in the presence of slow thermalization. Our work opens the door to exploring dynamical phases of matter and controlling interacting, disordered many-body systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

No-Go Theorem for Boson Condensation in Topologically Ordered Quantum Liquids

Certain phase transitions between topological quantum field theories (TQFT) are driven by the condensation of bosonic anyons. However, as bosons in a TQFT are themselves nontrivial collective excitations, there can be topological obstructions that prevent them from condensing. Here we formulate such an obstruction in the form of a no-go theorem. We use it to show that no condensation is possible in SO(3)$_k$ TQFTs with odd $k$. We further show that a layered theory obtained by tensoring SO(3)$_k$ TQFT with itself any integer number of times does not admit condensation transitions either. This includes (as the case $k=3$) the noncondensability of any number of layers of the Fibonacci TQFT.

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