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Fabien Alet

Publications and source records attributed to Fabien Alet.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Variational study of the magnetization plateaus in the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet: an approach from vision transformer neural quantum states

We analyze the magnetization curve of the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg model in a magnetic field. Using state-of-the-art variational wavefunctions based on neural networks, we confirm the presence of robust magnetization plateaus at $m=1/3$, $5/9$ and $7/9$ of the saturation value, stabilized by a spontaneous symmetry breaking of lattice translations with a $\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}$ unit cell. Regarding the more challenging $m=1/9$ plateau, we find two competing valence bond crystals depending on the system size, both breaking translation as well as point group symmetries and with a larger $3\times 3$ unit cell. Such quantum states with local modulations of the magnetization average values could be observed experimentally in the near future.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2026

Beyond the imbalance: site-resolved dynamics probing resonances in many-body localization

We explore the limitations of using imbalance dynamics as a diagnostic tool for many-body localization (MBL) and show that spatial averaging can mask important microscopic features. Focusing on the strongly disordered regime of the random-field XXZ chain, we use state-of-the-art numerical techniques (Krylov time evolution and full diagonalization) to demonstrate that site-resolved spin autocorrelators reveal a rich and complex dynamical behavior that is obscured by the imbalance observable. By analyzing the time evolution and infinite-time limits of these local probes, we reveal resonant structures and rare local instabilities within the MBL phase. These numerical findings are supported by an analytical, few-site toy model that captures the emergence of a multiple-peak structure in local magnetization histograms, which is a hallmark of local resonances. These few-body local effects provide a more detailed understanding of ergodicity-breaking dynamics, and also allow us to explain the finite-size effects of long-time imbalance, and its sensitivity to the initial conditions in quench protocols. Overall, our experimentally testable predictions highlight the necessity of a refined, site-resolved approach to fully understand the complexities of MBL and its connection to rare-region effects.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2025

Long-range resonances in quasiperiodic many-body localization

We investigate long-range resonances in quasiperiodic many-body localized (MBL) systems. Focusing on the Heisenberg chain in a deterministic Aubry-Andr\'{e} potential, we complement standard diagnostics by analyzing the structure of long-distance pairwise correlations at high energy. Contrary to the expectation that the ergodic-MBL transition in quasiperiodic systems should be sharper due to the absence of Griffiths regions, we uncover a broad unconventional regime at strong quasiperiodic potential, characterized by fat-tailed distributions of longitudinal correlations at long distance. This reveals the presence of atypical eigenstates with strong long-range correlations in a regime where standard diagnostics indicate stable MBL. We further identify these anomalous eigenstates as quasi-degenerate pairs of resonant cat states, which exhibit entanglement at long distance. These findings advance the understanding of quasiperiodic MBL and identify density-correlation measurements in ultracold atomic systems as a probe of long-range resonances.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2025

Large deviations in the many-body localization transition: The case of the random-field XXZ chain

The effect of rare system-wide resonances in the many-body localization (MBL) transition has recently attracted significant attention. They are expected to play a prominent role in the stability of the MBL phase, prompting the development of new theoretical frameworks to properly account for their statistical weight. We employ a method based on an analogy with mean-field disordered glassy systems to characterize the statistics of transmission amplitudes between distant many-body configurations in Hilbert space, and apply it to the random-field XXZ spin chain. By introducing a Lagrange multiplier, which formally plays the role of an effective temperature controlling the influence of extreme outliers in the heavy-tailed distribution of propagators, we identify three distinct regimes: (i) an ergodic phase with uniform spreading in Hilbert space, (ii) an intermediate regime where delocalization is driven by rare, disorder-dependent long-range resonances, and (iii) a robust MBL phase where such resonances cannot destabilize localization. We derive a finite-size phase diagram in the disorder--interaction plane both in the spin and in the Anderson basis that quantitatively agrees with recent numerical results based on real-space spin-spin correlation functions. We further demonstrate that even infinitesimal interactions can destroy the Anderson insulator at finite disorder, with the critical disorder remaining finite down to small interaction strengths. By visualizing resonant transmission pathways on the Hilbert space graph, we provide a complementary perspective to real-space and spectral probes, revealing how the destabilization of the MBL phase at finite sizes stems from the emergence of resonant paths that become progressively rarer and shorter-ranged deep in the localized phase.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2025

Detecting the Largest Correlations using the Correlation Density Matrix: a Quantum Monte Carlo Approach

We present a quantum Monte Carlo-based approach to detect and compute the most dominant correlations for many-body systems without prior knowledge. It is based on the measurement and analysis of the correlation density matrix between two (small) subsystems embedded in the full (large) sample. In order to benchmark this procedure, we investigate zero-temperature quantum phase transitions in one- and two-dimensional quantum Ising model as well as the two-dimensional bilayer Heisenberg antiferromagnet. The method paves the way for a systematic identification of unknown or exotic order parameters in unexplored phases on large systems accessible to quantum Monte Carlo methods.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2025

Cat states carrying long-range correlations in the many-body localized phase

Despite considerable efforts over the last decade, the high-energy phase diagram of the random-field Heisenberg chain still eludes our understanding, in particular the nature of the non-ergodic many-body localized (MBL) regime expected at strong disorder. In this work, we revisit this paradigmatic model by studying the statistics of rare atypical events of strongly correlated spin pairs traversing the entire system. They occur for unexpectedly strong disorder, i.e., in a regime where standard estimates fail to detect any instability. We then identify these very peculiar high-energy eigenstates, which exhibit system-wide ${\cal{O}}(1)$ correlations, as nearly degenerate pairs of resonant cat states of the form $|{\Phi}_{\pm}\rangle\sim {|{\alpha_1}\rangle}\pm {|{\alpha_2}\rangle}$, where ${|{\alpha_1}\rangle}$ and ${|{\alpha_2}\rangle}$ are spin basis states. We propose a simple and generic analytical description of this new class of eigenstates that exhibit system-spanning entanglement. This analytical ansatz guides us in our search for rare hidden cat states in exponentially large many-body spectra. This also enables a systematic numerical inspection of the microscopic anatomy of these unconventional pairs, which appear in a wide range of disorder strengths. In the light of recent studies and ongoing debates on the MBL problem, our results offer new perspectives and stimulating challenges to this very active field.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2024

Phase transitions and remnants of fractionalization at finite temperature in the triangular lattice quantum loop model

The quantum loop and dimer models are archetypal correlated systems with local constraints. With natural foundations in statistical mechanics, they are of direct relevance to various important physical concepts and systems, such as topological order, lattice gauge theories, geometric frustrations, or more recently Rydberg arrays quantum simulators. However, how the thermal fluctuations interact with constraints has not been explored in the important class of non-bipartite geometries. Here we study, via unbiased quantum Monte Carlo simulations and field theoretical analysis, the finite-temperature phase diagram of the quantum loop model on the triangular lattice. We discover that the recently identified, "hidden" vison plaquette (VP) quantum crystal [1] experiences a finite-temperature continuous transition, which smoothly connects to the (2+1)d Cubic* quantum critical point separating the VP and $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ quantum spin liquid phases. This finite-temperature phase transition acquires a unique property of ``remnants of fractionalization" at finite temperature, in that, both the cubic order parameter -- the plaquette loop resonance -- and its constituent -- the vison field -- exhibit independent criticality signatures. This phase transition is connected to a 3-state Potts transition between the lattice nematic phase and the high-temperature disordered phase. We discuss the relevance of our results for current experiments on quantum simulation platforms.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2024

Statistics of systemwide correlations in the random-field XXZ chain: Importance of rare events in the many-body localized phase

Motivated by recent debates around the many-body localization (MBL) problem, and in particular its stability against systemwide resonances, we investigate long-distance spin-spin correlations across the phase diagram of the random-field XXZ model, with a particular focus on the strong disorder regime. Building on state-of-the-art shift-invert diagonalization techniques, we study the high-energy behavior of transverse and longitudinal correlation functions, computed at the largest possible distance, for a broad range of disorder and interaction strengths. Our results show that while transverse correlations display a fairly stable exponential decay over the entire XXZ phase diagram, longitudinal correlations exhibit markedly different behavior, revealing distinct physical regimes. More precisely, we identify an intermediate disorder region where standard observables show well-converged MBL behavior [J. Colbois et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 116502 (2024)] while the distributions of longitudinal correlations reveal unexpected fat-tails towards large values. These rare events strongly influence the average decay of longitudinal correlations, which we find to be algebraic in a broad region inside the supposed MBL phase, whereas the typical decay remains mostly exponential. At stronger disorder and weaker interactions, this intermediate regime is replaced by a more conventional exponential decay with short correlation lengths for both typical and average correlators, as expected for standard localization. Our findings shed light on the systemwide instabilities and raise important questions about the impact of such rare but large long-range correlations on the stability of the MBL phase. Finally, we discuss the possible fate of the intermediate region in the context of recent perspectives in the field.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2024

Interaction-Driven Instabilities in the Random-Field XXZ Chain

Despite enormous efforts devoted to the study of the many-body localization (MBL) phenomenon, the nature of the high-energy behavior of the Heisenberg spin chain in a strong random magnetic field is lacking consensus. Here, we take a step back by exploring the weak interaction limit starting from the Anderson localized (AL) insulator. Through shift-invert diagonalization, we find that below a certain disorder threshold $h^*$, weak interactions necessarily lead to ergodic instability, whereas at strong disorder the AL insulator directly turns into MBL. This agrees with a simple interpretation of the avalanche theory for restoration of ergodicity. We further map the phase diagram for the generic XXZ model in the disorder $h$ -- interaction $\Delta$ plane. Taking advantage of the total magnetization conservation, our results unveil the remarkable behavior of the spin-spin correlation functions: in the regime indicated as MBL by standard observables, their exponential decay undergoes a unique inversion of orientation $\xi_z>\xi_x$. We find that the longitudinal length $\xi_z$ is a key quantity for capturing ergodic instabilities, as it increases with system size near the thermal phase, in sharp contrast to its transverse counterpart $\xi_x$.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2024

Ergodic and non-ergodic properties of disordered SU(3) chains

Non-abelian symmetries are thought to be incompatible with many-body localization, but have been argued to produce in certain disordered systems a broad non-ergodic regime distinct from many-body localization. In this context, we present a numerical study of properties of highly-excited eigenstates of disordered chains with SU(3) symmetry. We find that while weakly disordered systems rapidly thermalize, strongly-disordered systems indeed exhibit non-thermal signatures over a large range of system sizes, similar to the one found in previously studied SU(2) systems. Our analysis is based on the spectral, entanglement, and thermalization properties of eigenstates obtained through large-scale exact diagonalization exploiting the full SU(3) symmetry.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2023

Noncoplanar and chiral spin states on the way towards N\'eel ordering in fullerene Heisenberg models

Using high-accuracy variational Monte Carlo based on group-convolutional neural networks (GCNNs), we obtain the symmetry-resolved low-energy spectrum of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on several highly symmetric fullerene geometries, including the famous C$_{60}$ buckminsterfullerene. We argue that as the degree of frustration is lowered in large fullerenes, they display characteristic features of incipient magnetic ordering: correlation functions show high-intensity Bragg peaks consistent with N\'eel-like ordering, while the low-energy spectrum is organised into a tower of states. Competition with frustration, however, turns the simple N\'eel order into a noncoplanar one. Remarkably, we find and predict chiral incipient ordering in a large number of fullerene structures.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2023

Classical fully-packed loop model with attractive interactions on the square lattice

We study a classical model of fully-packed loops on the square lattice, which interact through attractive loop segment interactions between opposite sides of plaquettes. This study is motivated by effective models of interacting quantum matter arising in frustrated magnets or Rydberg atom arrays, for which loop degrees of freedom appear at low energy. Through a combination of Monte Carlo simulations and an effective height field theory, we find that the critical point known to occur at infinite temperature gives rise to a high-temperature critical phase with floating exponents. At lower temperature, the system transitions via a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition to a nematic phase where lattice rotation symmetry is broken. We discuss consequences for the phase diagram of the quantum loop model on the same lattice.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2023

Anomalous relaxation of density waves in a ring-exchange system

We present the analysis of the slowing down exhibited by stochastic dynamics of a ring-exchange model on a square lattice, by means of numerical simulations. We find the preservation of coarse-grained memory of initial state of density-wave types for unexpectedly long times. This behavior is inconsistent with the prediction from a low frequency continuum theory developed by assuming a mean-field solution. Through a detailed analysis of correlation functions of the dynamically active regions, we exhibit an unconventional transient long ranged structure formation in a direction which is featureless for the initial condition, and argue that its slow melting plays a crucial role in the slowing-down mechanism. We expect our results to be relevant also for the dynamics of quantum ring-exchange dynamics of hard-core bosons and more generally for dipole moment conserving models

quant-ph↗
arXiv2022

Re-entrance effect in the high-temperature critical phase of the quantum dimer model on the square lattice

We present a quantum Monte Carlo investigation of the finite-temperature phase diagram of the quantum dimer model on the square lattice. We use the sweeping cluster algorithm, which allows to implement exactly the dimer constraint, supplemented with a equal-time directed loop move that allows to sample winding sectors. We find a high-temperature critical phase with power-law correlations that extend down to the Rokshar-Kivelson point, in the vicinity of which a re-entrance effect in the lines of constant exponent is found. For small values of the kinetic energy strength, we find finite-temperature transitions to ordered states (columnar and staggered) which match those of interacting classical dimer models.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2022

Weakly first-order quantum phase transition between Spin Nematic and Valence Bond Crystal Order in a square lattice SU(4) fermionic model

We consider a model Hamiltonian with two SU(4) fermions per site on a square lattice, showing a competition between bilinear and biquadratic interactions. This model has generated interest due to possible realizations in ultracold atom experiments and existence of spin liquid ground states. Using a basis transformation, we show that part of the phase diagram is amenable to quantum Monte Carlo simulations without a sign problem. We find evidence for spin nematic and valence bond crystalline phases, which are separated by a weak first order phase transition. A U(1) symmetry is found to emerge in the valence bond crystal histograms, suggesting proximity to a deconfined quantum critical point. Our results are obtained with the help of a loop algorithm which allows large-scale simulations of bilinear-biquadratic SO(N ) models on arbitrary lattices in a certain parameter regime.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2022

Probing symmetries of quantum many-body systems through gap ratio statistics

The statistics of gap ratios between consecutive energy levels is a widely used tool, in particular in the context of many-body physics, to distinguish between chaotic and integrable systems, described respectively by Gaussian ensembles of random matrices and Poisson statistics. In this work we extend the study of the gap ratio distribution P(r) to the case where discrete symmetries are present. This is important, since in certain situations it may be very impractical, or impossible, to split the model into symmetry sectors, let alone in cases where the symmetry is not known in the first place. Starting from the known expressions for surmises in the Gaussian ensembles, we derive analytical surmises for random matrices comprised of several independent blocks. We check our formulae against simulations from large random matrices, showing excellent agreement. We then present a large set of applications in many-body physics, ranging from quantum clock models and anyonic chains to periodically-driven spin systems. In all these models the existence of a (sometimes hidden) symmetry can be diagnosed through the study of the spectral gap ratios, and our approach furnishes an efficient way to characterize the number and size of independent symmetry subspaces. We finally discuss the relevance of our analysis for existing results in the literature, as well as its practical usefulness, and point out possible future applications and extensions.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2021

Entanglement and Confinement in Coupled Quantum Systems

We study some general properties of coupled quantum systems. We consider simple interactions between two copies of identical Hamiltonians such as the SYK model, Pauli spin chains with random magnetic field and harmonic oscillators. Such couplings make the ground states close to the thermofield double states of the uncoupled Hamiltonians. For the coupled SYK model, we push the numerical computation further towards the thermodynamic limit so that an extrapolation in the size of the system is possible. We find good agreement between the extrapolated numerical result and the analytic result in the large-$q$ limit. We also consider the coupled gauged matrix model and vector model, and argue that the deconfinement is associated with the loss of the entanglement, similarly to the previous observation for the coupled SYK model. The understanding of the microscopic mechanism of the confinement/deconfinement transition enables us to estimate the quantum entanglement precisely, and backs up the dual gravity interpretation which relates the deconfinement to the disappearance of the wormhole. Our results demonstrate the importance of the entanglement between the color degrees of freedom in the emergence of the bulk geometry from quantum field theory via holography.

hep-th↗
arXiv2021

Quantum half-orphans in kagome antiferromagnets

We numerically study the effects of non-magnetic impurities (vacancies) in the spin-$S$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagomé lattice. For a range of low but nonzero temperatures, and spin values that extend down to $S=2$, we find that the magnetization response to an external magnetic field is consistent with the response of emergent "half-orphan" degrees of freedom that are expected to dominate the response of the corresponding classical magnet in a similar temperature range whenever there are two vacancies on the same triangle. Specifically, for all spin values we have considered (from $S=1/2$ to $S=4$), there is a large enhancement of the local susceptibility of the lone spin on such a triangle with two vacancies; in the presence of a uniform magnetic field $h$, this lone-spin behaves effectively as an almost free spin $S$ in an effective field $h/2$. Quite remarkably, in the zero temperature limit, the ground state in the presence of a half-orphan has a non-zero total spin value $S_{GS}$ that shows a trend similar to $S/2$ when $S\ge 2$. These qualitative aspects of the response differ strikingly from the more conventional response of diluted samples without such half-orphan degrees of freedom. We discuss how these findings could be checked experimentally.

cond-mat.str-el↗