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arXiv:1806.03288 · Physical Review Letters

Superdiffusion in One-Dimensional Quantum Lattice Models

Enej Ilievski, Jacopo De Nardis, Marko Medenjak, Tomaž Prosen

Published Dec 7, 2018• 187 citations
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Abstract

We identify a class of one-dimensional spin and fermionic lattice models that display diverging spin and charge diffusion constants, including several paradigmatic models of exactly solvable, strongly correlated many-body dynamics such as the isotropic Heisenberg spin chains, the Fermi-Hubbard model, and the t-J model at the integrable point. Using the hydrodynamic transport theory, we derive an analytic lower bound on the spin and charge diffusion constants by calculating the curvature of the corresponding Drude weights at half-filling, and demonstrate that for certain lattice models with isotropic interactions some of the Noether charges exhibit superdiffusive transport at finite temperature and half-filling.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.121.230602

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We identify a class of one-dimensional spin and fermionic lattice models that display diverging spin and charge diffusion constants, including several paradigmatic models of exactly solvable, strongly correlated many-body dynamics such as the isotropic Heisenberg spin chains, the Fermi-Hubbard model, and the t-J model at the integrable point. Using the hydrodynamic transport theory, we derive an analytic lower bound on the spin and charge diffusion constants by calculating the curvature of the corresponding Drude weights at half-filling, and demonstrate that for certain lattice models with isotropic interactions some of the Noether charges exhibit superdiffusive transport at finite temperature and half-filling.
The use of hydrodynamic transport theory seems to indicate that the charge diffusion constant DDD of the one-dimensional (1D) half-filled Hubbard model, whose Drude weight vanishes, diverges for temperature T>0T>0T>0, which would imply anomalous superdiffusive charge transport. Here the leading term of that constant is derived for low finite temperatures ${k}_{B}T/{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\eta}}\ensuremath{\ll}1$ where ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\eta}}$ is the Mott-Hubbard gap. It only diverges in the $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ limit, being finite and decreasing upon increasing TTT within the ${k}_{B}T/{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\eta}}\ensuremath{\ll}1$ regime. Our exact results both provide valuable physical information on a complex quantum problem and bring about the interesting unsolved issue of how charge transport evolves from normal diffusive for ${k}_{B}T/{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{\ensuremath{\eta}}\ensuremath{\ll}1$ to anomalous superdiffusive in the ${k}_{B}T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ limit.
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We address the nature of spin transport in the integrable XXZ spin chain, focusing on the isotropic Heisenberg limit. We calculate the diffusion constant using a kinetic picture based on generalized hydrodynamics combined with Gaussian fluctuations: we find that it diverges, and show that a self-consistent treatment of this divergence gives superdiffusion, with an effective time-dependent diffusion constant that scales as D(t)∼t^{1/3}. This exponent had previously been observed in large-scale numerical simulations, but had not been theoretically explained. We briefly discuss XXZ models with easy-axis anisotropy Δ>1. Our method gives closed-form expressions for the diffusion constant D in the infinite-temperature limit for all Δ>1. We find that D saturates at large anisotropy, and diverges as the Heisenberg limit is approached, as D∼(Δ-1)^{-1/2}.
We report a systematic study of finite-temperature spin transport in quantum and classical one-dimensional magnets with isotropic spin interactions, including both integrable and nonintegrable models. Employing a phenomenological framework based on a generalized Burgers' equation in a time-dependent stochastic environment, we identify four different universality classes of spin fluctuations. These comprise, aside from normal spin diffusion, three types of superdiffusive transport: the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class and two distinct types of anomalous diffusion with multiplicative logarithmic corrections. Our predictions are supported by extensive numerical simulations on various examples of quantum and classical chains. Contrary to common belief, we demonstrate that even nonintegrable spin chains can display a diverging spin diffusion constant at finite temperatures.
The problem of characterizing low-temperature spin dynamics in antiferromagnetic spin chains has so far remained elusive. Here we reinvestigate it by focusing on isotropic antiferromagnetic chains whose low-energy effective field theory is governed by the quantum nonlinear sigma model. Employing an exact nonperturbative theoretical approach, we analyze the low-temperature behavior in the vicinity of nonmagnetized states and obtain exact expressions for the spin diffusion constant and the NMR relaxation rate, which we compare with previous theoretical results in the literature. Surprisingly, in SU(2)-invariant spin chains in the vicinity of half filling we find a crossover from the semiclassical regime to a strongly interacting quantum regime characterized by zero spin Drude weight and diverging spin conductivity, indicating superdiffusive spin dynamics. The dynamical exponent of spin fluctuations is argued to belong to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class. Furthermore, by employing numerical time-dependent density matrix renormalization group simulations, we find robust evidence that the anomalous spin transport persists also at high temperatures, irrespective of the spectral gap and integrability of the model.
The one-dimensional (1D) Hubbard model at zero magnetic field, h=0, and zero chemical potential, μ=0, and, thus, at the h=μ=0[SO(4)×U(1)]/Z2-symmetry point, is the paradigmatic quantum system for low-dimensional strongly correlated electron 1D Mott-Hubbard insulators. Studies relying on hydrodynamic theory and Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) scaling have found that for the 1D Hubbard model at the h=μ=0 point, both spin and charge transports are for all temperatures T>0 that are anomalous superdiffusive. In this paper, we review recent results that correct the hydrodynamic theory and KPZ scaling prediction concerning the finite-temperature charge transport, as it is normal diffusive for all finite temperatures T>0. This failure of the hydrodynamic theory and KPZ scaling stems from the misleading assumption that the h=μ=0[SO(4)×U(1)]/Z2-symmetry point rather is a h=μ=0SO(4)-symmetry point. Such an assumption has ignored the quantum effects associated with the τ-translational U(1) symmetry beyond SO(4).