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Wojciech De Roeck

Publications and source records attributed to Wojciech De Roeck.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Pure gapped ground states of spin chains are short-range entangled

We consider spin chains with a finite range Hamiltonian. For reasons of simplicity, the chain is taken to be infinitely long. A ground state is said to be a unique gapped ground state if its GNS Hamiltonian has a unique ground state, separated by a gap from the rest of the spectrum. By combining some powerful techniques developed in the last years, we prove that each unique gapped ground state is short-range entangled: It can be mapped into a product state by a finite time evolution map generated by a Hamiltonian with exponentially quasi-local interaction terms. This claim makes precise the common belief that one-dimensional gapped systems are topologically trivial in the bulk.

math-ph↗

Many-body Localization and Poisson statistics in the Quantum Sun model

The Quantum Sun model is a many-body Hamiltonian model of interacting spins arranged on the half-line (or the line). Spins at distance $n$ from the origin are coupled to the rest of the system via a term of strength $α^n$, with $α\in (0,1)$. From theoretical and numerical considerations, it is believed that this model undergoes a localization-delocalization transition at the critical value $α=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}$. We prove that, for $α\ll \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}$, the model is localized and that its spectral statistics are Poissonian. The main novelty of this result is that the model considered here is a genuine many-body model, in which the interaction has a profound effect.

math-ph↗

LDPC stabilizer codes as gapped quantum phases: stability under graph-local perturbations

We generalize the proof of stability of topological order, due to Bravyi, Hastings and Michalakis, to stabilizer Hamiltonians corresponding to low-density parity check (LDPC) codes without the restriction of geometric locality in Euclidean space. We consider Hamiltonians $H_0$ defined by $[[N,K,d]]$ LDPC codes which obey certain topological quantum order conditions: (i) code distance $d \geq c \log(N)$, implying local indistinguishability of ground states, and (ii) a mild condition on local and global compatibility of ground states; these include good quantum LDPC codes, and the toric code on a hyperbolic lattice, among others. We consider stability under weak perturbations that are quasi-local on the interaction graph defined by $H_0$, and which can be represented as sums of bounded-norm terms. As long as the local perturbation strength is smaller than a finite constant, we show that the perturbed Hamiltonian has well-defined spectral bands originating from the $O(1)$ smallest eigenvalues of $H_0$. The band originating from the smallest eigenvalue has $2^K$ states, is separated from the rest of the spectrum by a finite energy gap, and has exponentially narrow bandwidth $δ= C N e^{-Θ(d)}$, which is tighter than the best known bounds even in the Euclidean case. We also obtain that the new ground state subspace is related to the initial code subspace by a quasi-local unitary, allowing one to relate their physical properties. Our proof uses an iterative procedure that performs successive rotations to eliminate non-frustration-free terms in the Hamiltonian. Our results extend to quantum Hamiltonians built from classical LDPC codes, which give rise to stable symmetry-breaking phases. These results show that LDPC codes very generally define stable gapped quantum phases, even in the non-Euclidean setting, initiating a systematic study of such phases of matter.

quant-ph↗

A complete classification of 2d symmetry protected states with symmetric entanglers

We consider symmetry protected topological states of 2d quantum spin systems, with a finite symmetry group $G$. It has been conjectured that such states are classified by the cohomology group $H^3(G,U(1))$, but the completeness of this classfication is an open problem. We restrict ourselves to symmetry protected topological states that can be prepared from a product state by a symmetric entangler. For this class of states, we prove that the classification by $H^3(G,U(1))$ is complete.

math-ph↗

Stark localization of interacting particles

We consider N interacting quantum particles on a one-dimensional lattice, and subjected to an external linear potential. For N = 1, the corresponding Hamiltonian is explicitly diagonalizable, with superexponentially localized eigenstates. This is called Stark localization. We prove that superexponential spectral localization persists for arbitrary N and every interaction strength.

math-ph↗

Classification of locality preserving symmetries on spin chains

We consider the action of a finite group $G$ by locality preserving automorphisms (quantum cellular automata) on quantum spin chains. We refer to such group actions as ``symmetries''. The natural notion of equivalence for such symmetries is \emph{stable equivalence}, which allows for stacking with factorized group actions. Stacking also endows the set of equivalence classes with a group structure. We prove that the anomaly of such symmetries provides an isomorphism between the group of stable equivalence classes of symmetries with the cohomology group $H^3(G,U(1))$, consistent with previous conjectures. This amounts to a complete classification of locality preserving symmetries on spin chains. We further show that a locality preserving symmetry is stably equivalent to one that can be presented by finite depth quantum circuits with covariant gates if and only if the slant product of its anomaly is trivial in $H^2(G, U(1)[G])$.

quant-ph↗

Sub-Power Law Decay of the Wave Packet Maximum in Disordered Anharmonic Chains

We show that the peak of an initially localized wave packet in one-dimensional nonlinear disordered chains decays more slowly than any power law of time. The systems under investigation are Klein-Gordon and nonlinear disordered Schrödinger-type chains, characterized by a harmonic onsite disordered potential and quartic nearest-neighbor coupling. Our results apply in the long-time limit, hold almost surely, and are valid for arbitrary finite energy values.

math-ph↗

Long persistence of localization in a disordered anharmonic chain beyond the atomic limit

We establish rigorous bounds on the decorrelation time and thermal transport in the disordered Klein-Gordon chain with a quartic on-site potential, governed by a parameter $λ$. At $λ= 0$, the chain is harmonic, and any form of transport is fully suppressed by Anderson localization. For the anharmonic system, at $λ> 0$, our results show that decorrelation and transport can occur only on time scales that grow faster than any polynomial in $1/λ$ as $λ\to 0$. From a technical perspective, the main novelty of our work is that we don't restrict ourselves to the atomic limit. Instead, we develop perturbation theory around the harmonic system with a fixed harmonic interaction between nearby oscillators. This allows us to compare our mathematical results with previous numerical work and contribute to resolving an ongoing debate, as detailed in a companion paper arXiv:2308.10572.

math-ph↗

Slow dissipation and spreading in disordered classical systems: A direct comparison between numerics and mathematical bounds

We study the breakdown of Anderson localization in the one-dimensional nonlinear Klein-Gordon chain, a prototypical example of a disordered classical many-body system. A series of numerical works indicate that an initially localized wave packet spreads polynomially in time, while analytical studies rather suggest a much slower spreading. Here, we focus on the decorrelation time in equilibrium. On the one hand, we provide a mathematical theorem establishing that this time is larger than any inverse power law in the effective anharmonicity parameter $λ$, and on the other hand our numerics show that it follows a power law for a broad range of values of $λ$. This numerical behavior is fully consistent with the power law observed numerically in spreading experiments, and we conclude that the state-of-the-art numerics may well be unable to capture the long-time behavior of such classical disordered systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Classification of symmetry protected states of quantum spin chains for continuous symmetry groups

Symmetry protected states (SPT's) of quantum spin systems were studied by several authors. For one-dimensional systems (spin chains), there is an essentially complete and rigorous understanding: SPT's corresponding to finite on-site symmetry groups $G$ are classified by the second cohomology group $H^2(G,U(1))$, as established by Kapustin et al. [J. Math. Phys. (2021)]. We extend this result to the case of compact topological symmetry groups $G$. We also strengthen the existing results in the sense that our classification results holds within the class of spin chains with locally bounded on-site dimensions.

math-ph↗

Similarity between a many-body quantum avalanche model and the ultrametric random matrix model

In the field of ergodicity-breaking phases, it has been recognized that quantum avalanches can destabilize many-body localization at a wide range of disorder strengths. This has in particular been demonstrated by the numerical study of a toy model, sometimes simply called the "avalanche model" or the "quantum sun model" [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 060602 (2022)], which consists of an ergodic seed coupled to a perfectly localized material. In this paper, we connect this toy model to a well-studied model in random matrix theory, the ultrametric ensemble. We conjecture that the models share the following features. 1) The location of the critical point may be predicted sharply by analytics. 2) On the localized site, both models exhibit Fock space localization. 3) There is a manifold of critical points. On the critical manifold, the eigenvectors exhibit nontrivial multifractal behaviour that can be tuned by moving on the manifold. 4) The spectral statistics at criticality is intermediate between Poisson statistics and random matrix statistics, also tunable on the critical manifold. We confirm numerically these properties.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

A classification of $G$-charge Thouless pumps in 1D invertible states

Recently, a theory has been proposed that classifies cyclic processes of symmetry protected topological (SPT) quantum states. For the case of spin chains, i.e.\ one-dimensional bosonic SPT's, this theory implies that cyclic processes are classified by zero-dimensional SPT's. This is often described as a generalization of Thouless pumps, with the original Thouless pump corresponding to the case where the symmetry group is $U(1)$ and pumps are classified by an integer that corresponds to the charge pumped per cycle. In this paper, we review this one-dimensional theory in an explicit and rigorous setting and we provide a proof for the completeness of the proposed classification for compact symmetry groups $G$.

math-ph↗

Derivation of Kubo's formula for disordered systems at zero temperature

This work justifies the linear response formula for the Hall conductance of a two-dimensional disordered system. The proof rests on controlling the dynamics associated with a random time-dependent Hamiltonian. The principal challenge is related to the fact that spectral and dynamical localization are intrinsically unstable under perturbation, and the exact spectral flow - the tool used previously to control the dynamics in this context - does not exist. We resolve this problem by proving a local adiabatic theorem: With high probability, the physical evolution of a localized eigenstate $ψ$ associated with a random system remains close to the spectral flow for a restriction of the instantaneous Hamiltonian to a region $R$ where the bulk of $ψ$ is supported. Allowing $R$ to grow at most logarithmically in time ensures that the deviation of the physical evolution from this spectral flow is small. To substantiate our claim on the failure of the global spectral flow in disordered systems, we prove eigenvector hybridization in a one-dimensional Anderson model at all scales.

math-ph↗

Ergodic inclusions in many body localized systems

We investigate the effect of ergodic inclusions in putative many-body localized systems. To this end, we consider the random field Heisenberg chain, which is many-body localized at strong disorder and we couple it to an ergodic bubble, modeled by a random matrix Hamiltonian. Recent theoretical work suggests that the ergodic bubble destabilizes the apparent localized phase at intermediate disorder strength and finite sizes. We tentatively confirm this by numerically analyzing the response of the local thermality, quantified by one-site purities, to the insertion of the bubble. For a range of intermediate disorder strengths, this response decays very slowly, or not at all, with increasing distance to the bubble. This suggests that at those disorder strengths, the system is delocalized in the thermodynamic limit. However, the numerics is unfortunately not unambiguous and we cannot definitely rule out artefacts.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

Rigorous and simple results on very slow thermalization, or quasi-localization, of the disordered quantum chain

This paper originates from lectures delivered at the summer school "Fundamental Problems in Statistical Physics XV" in Bruneck, Italy, in 2021. We give a brief and limited introduction into ergodicity-breaking induced by disorder. As the title suggests, we include a simple yet rigorous and original result: For a strongly disordered quantum chain, we exhibit a full set of quasi-local quantities whose dynamics is negligible up to times of order $\exp\{ c (\log W)^{2-ε}\}$, with $ε< 1$, $c$ a numerical constant, and $W$ the disorder strength. Such a result, that is often referred to as "quasi-localization", can in principle be obtained in other systems as well, but for a disordered quantum chain, its proof is relatively short and transparent.

math-ph↗

Stability of invertible, frustration-free ground states against large perturbations

A gapped ground state of a quantum spin system has a natural length scale set by the gap. This length scale governs the decay of correlations. A common intuition is that this length scale also controls the spatial relaxation towards the ground state away from impurities or boundaries. The aim of this article is to take a step towards a proof of this intuition. We assume that the ground state is frustration-free and invertible, i.e.\ it has no long-range entanglement. Moreover, we assume the property that we are aiming to prove for one specific kind of boundary condition; namely open boundary conditions. This assumption is also known as the "local topological quantum order" (LTQO) condition. With these assumptions we can prove stretched exponential decay away from boundaries or impurities, for any of the ground states of the perturbed system. In contrast to most earlier results, we do not assume that the perturbations at the boundary or the impurity are small. In particular, the perturbed system itself can have long-range entanglement.

math-ph↗

Rational indices for quantum ground state sectors

We consider charge transport for interacting many-body systems with a gapped ground state subspace which is finitely degenerate and topologically ordered. To any locality-preserving, charge-conserving unitary that preserves the ground state space, we associate an index that is an integer multiple of $1/p$, where $p$ is the ground state degeneracy. We prove that the index is additive under composition of unitaries. This formalism gives rise to several applications: fractional quantum Hall conductance, a fractional Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem that generalizes the standard LSM to systems where the translation-invariance is broken, and the interacting generalization of the Avron-Dana-Zak relation between Hall conductance and the filling factor.

math-ph↗