The heat conductivity $\ensuremath{\kappa}(T)$ of integrable models, like the one-dimensional spin-
1/2 nearest-neighbor Heisenberg model, is infinite even at finite temperatures as a consequence of the conservation laws associated with integrability. Small perturbations lead to finite but large transport coefficients which we calculate perturbatively using exact diagonalization and moment expansions. We show that there are two different classes of perturbations. While an interchain coupling of strength ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ leads to $\ensuremath{\kappa}(T)\ensuremath{\propto}1/{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{2}$ as expected from simple golden-rule arguments, we obtain a much larger $\ensuremath{\kappa}(T)\ensuremath{\propto}1/{J}^{\ensuremath{'}4}$ for a weak next-nearest-neighbor interaction ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}$. This can be explained by a new approximate conservation law of the $J\mathrm{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}{J}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ Heisenberg chain.
The integrability of a quantum many-body system, which is characterized by the presence or absence of local conserved quantities, drastically impacts the dynamics of isolated systems, including thermalization. Nevertheless, a rigorous and comprehensive method for determining integrability or nonintegrability has remained elusive. In this paper, we address this challenge by introducing rigorously provable tests for integrability and nonintegrability of quantum spin systems with finite-range interactions. Our results significantly simplify existing proofs of nonintegrability, such as those for the
S=1/2 Heisenberg chain with nearest-and next-nearest-neighbor interactions, the
S=1 bilinear-biquadratic chain and the
S=1/2 XYZ model in two or higher dimensions. Moreover, our results also yield the first proof of nonintegrability for models such as the
S=1/2 Heisenberg chain with a non-uniform magnetic field, the
S=1/2 XYZ model on the triangular lattice, and the general spin XYZ model. This work also offers a partial resolution to the long-standing conjecture that integrability is governed by the existence of local conserved quantities with small support. Our framework ensures that the nonintegrability of one-dimensional spin systems with translational symmetry can be verified algorithmically, independently of system size.
We set up a framework in which controlled lower bounds to conductivities of strongly correlated quantum systems may be calculated perturbatively in situations where the conductivities are infinite in the unperturbed model. This framework is then applied to study the transport properties of almost integrable systems, in general, and heat and spin conductivities in the integrable XXZ Heisenberg spin chain perturbed by various integrability breaking couplings, in particular. Furthermore, we systematically develop a microscopic description of the contribution of spin chains to experimentally measured heat conductivity in spin chain compounds, with an emphasis on the effect of weak disorder.
Abstract We rigorously prove that the
S=1/2 S = 1 / 2 anisotropic Heisenberg chain (XYZ chain) with next-nearest-neighbor interaction, which is anticipated to be non-integrable, is indeed non-integrable in the sense that this system has no nontrivial local conserved quantity. Our result covers some important models including the Majumdar–Ghosh model, the Shastry–Sutherland model, and many other zigzag spin chains as special cases. These models are shown to be non-integrable while they have some solvable energy eigenstates. In addition to this result, we provide a pedagogical review of the proof of non-integrability of the
S=1/2 S = 1 / 2 XYZ chain with Z magnetic field, whose proof technique is employed in our result.
We outline a procedure for counting and identifying a complete set of local and quasilocal conserved operators in integrable lattice systems. The method yields a systematic generation of all independent, conserved quasilocal operators related to the time average of local operators with a support on up to M consecutive sites. As an example, we study the anisotropic Heisenberg spin-1/2 chain and show that the number of independent conserved operators grows linearly with M. In addition to the known local operators, there exist novel quasilocal conserved quantities in all the parity sectors. The existence of quasilocal conserved operators is shown also for the isotropic Heisenberg model. Implications for the anomalous relaxation of quenched systems are discussed as well.
Within a strong coupling expansion, we construct local quasi-conserved operators for a class of Hamiltonians that includes both integrable and non-integrable models. We explicitly show that at the lowest orders of perturbation theory the structure of the operators is independent of the system details. Higher order contributions are investigated numerically by means of an ab initio method for computing the time evolution of local operators in the Heisenberg picture. The numerical analysis suggests that the quasi-conserved operators could be approximations of a quasi-local conservation law, even if the model is non-integrable.