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arXiv:2009.06507 · Physical review. E

Multipole conservation laws and subdiffusion in any dimension

Jason Iaconis, Andrew Lucas, Rahul Nandkishore

Published Feb 26, 2021• 83 citations
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Abstract

Subdiffusion is a generic feature of chaotic many-body dynamics with multipole conservation laws and subsystem symmetries. We numerically study this subdiffusive dynamics, using quantum automaton random unitary circuits, in a broad range of models including one-dimensional models with dipole and quadrupole conservation, two-dimensional models with dipole conservation, and two-dimensional models with subsystem symmetry on the triangular lattice. Our results are in complete agreement with recent hydrodynamic predictions for such theories.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.103.022142

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Subdiffusion is a generic feature of chaotic many-body dynamics with multipole conservation laws and subsystem symmetries. We numerically study this subdiffusive dynamics, using quantum automaton random unitary circuits, in a broad range of models including one-dimensional models with dipole and quadrupole conservation, two-dimensional models with dipole conservation, and two-dimensional models with subsystem symmetry on the triangular lattice. Our results are in complete agreement with recent hydrodynamic predictions for such theories.
We introduce quantum circuits in two and three spatial dimensions which are classically simulable, despite producing a high degree of operator entanglement. We provide a partial characterization of these ``automaton'' quantum circuits and use them to study operator growth, information spreading, and local charge relaxation in quantum dynamics with subsystem symmetries, which we define as overlapping symmetries that act on lower-dimensional submanifolds. With these symmetries, we discover the anomalous subdiffusion of conserved charges; that is, the charges spread slower than diffusion in the dimension of the subsystem symmetry. By studying an effective operator hydrodynamics in the presence of these symmetries, we predict the charge autocorrelator to decay (i) as ln(t)/tln(t)/\sqrt{t}ln(t)/t​ in two dimensions with a conserved U(1) charge along intersecting lines and (ii) as 1/t3/41/{t}^{3/4}1/t3/4 in three spatial dimensions with intersecting planar U(1) symmetries. Through large-scale studies of automaton dynamics with these symmetries, we numerically observe charge relaxation that is consistent with these predictions. In both cases, the spatial charge distribution is distinctly non-Gaussian and reminiscent of the diffusion of charges along a fractal surface. We numerically study the onset of quantum chaos in the spreading of local operators under these automaton dynamics and observe power-law broadening of the ballistically propagating fronts of evolving operators in two and three dimensions and the saturation of out-of-time-ordered correlations to values consistent with quantum chaotic behavior.
We study how conservation laws shape the spreading of quantum coherence in many-body dynamics. Focusing on U(1)U(1)U(1)-symmetric random circuits, charge-and-dipole conserving circuits, as well as ergodic Hamiltonian dynamics, we probe coherences both globally, via the participation entropy, and locally, via the relative entropy of coherence. Combining exact vector evolution, matrix product state simulations, and replica tensor networks methods, we find that conservation laws replace the logarithmic saturation of unconstrained circuits with slow hydrodynamic relaxation of the global coherence measures. Locally, symmetry-constrained circuits show a clean rise-peak-fall structure whose peak time grows algebraically with subsystem size. In contrast, ergodic Hamiltonians broaden the peak into an extended plateau at larger subsystems, highlighting a qualitatively distinct mechanism. Coherence thus emerges as a sensitive probe of symmetry-constrained thermalization, linking quantum resource dynamics to many-body transport.
We show that the simplest universality classes of fracton hydrodynamics in more than one spatial dimension, including isotropic theories of charge and dipole conservation, can exhibit hidden quasiconservation laws, in which certain higher multipole moments can only decay due to dangerously irrelevant corrections to hydrodynamics. We present two simple examples of this phenomenon. First, an isotropic dipole-conserving fluid in the infinite plane conserves an infinite number of harmonic multipole charges within linear response; we calculate the decay or growth of these charges due to dangerously irrelevant nonlinearities. Second, we consider a model with xy and x^{2}-y^{2} quadrupole conservation, in addition to dipole conservation, which is described by isotropic fourth-order subdiffusion, yet has dangerously irrelevant sixth-order corrections necessary to relax the harmonic multipole charges. We confirm our predictions for the anomalously slow decay of the harmonic conserved charges in each setting by using numerical simulations, both of the nonlinear hydrodynamic differential equations, and in quantum automaton circuits on a square lattice.
Random quantum circuits are paradigmatic models of minimally structured and analytically tractable chaotic dynamics. We study a family of Floquet unitary circuits with Haar random U(1)U(1)U(1) charge conserving dynamics; the minimal such model has nearest-neighbor gates acting on spin-1/2 qubits, and a single layer of even/odd gates repeated periodically in time. We find that this minimal model is not robustly thermalizing at numerically accessible system sizes, and displays slow subdiffusive dynamics for long times. We map out the thermalization dynamics in a broader parameter space of charge conserving circuits, and understand the origin of the slow dynamics in terms of proximate localized and integrable regimes in parameter space. In contrast, we find that small extensions to the minimal model are sufficient to achieve robust thermalization; these include (i) increasing the interaction range to three-site gates, (ii) increasing the local Hilbert space dimension by appending an additional unconstrained qubit to the conserved charge on each site, or (iii) using a larger Floquet period comprised of two independent layers of gates. Our results should inform future studies of charge conserving circuits, which are relevant for a wide range of topical theoretical questions.
We study the scrambling of local quantum information in chaotic many-body systems in the presence of a locally conserved quantity like charge or energy that moves diffusively.The interplay between conservation laws and scrambling sheds light on the mechanism by which unitary quantum dynamics, which is reversible, gives rise to diffusive hydrodynamics, which is a slow dissipative process.We obtain our results in a random quantum circuit model that is constrained to have a conservation law.We find that a generic spreading operator consists of two parts: (i) a conserved part which comprises the weight of the spreading operator on the local conserved densities, whose dynamics is described by diffusive charge spreading; this conserved part also acts as a source that steadily emits a flux of (ii) nonconserved operators.This emission leads to dissipation in the operator hydrodynamics, with the dissipative process being the slow conversion of operator weight from local conserved operators to nonconserved, at a rate set by the local diffusion current.The emitted nonconserved parts then spread ballistically at a butterfly speed, thus becoming highly nonlocal and, hence, essentially nonobservable, thereby acting as the "reservoir" that facilitates the dissipation.In addition, we find that the nonconserved component develops a power-law tail behind its leading ballistic front due to the slow dynamics of the conserved components.This implies that the out-of-time-order commutator between two initially separated operators grows sharply upon the arrival of the ballistic front, but, in contrast to systems with no conservation laws, it develops a diffusive tail and approaches its asymptotic late-time value only as a power of time instead of exponentially.We also derive these results within an effective hydrodynamic description which contains multiple coupled diffusion equations.
This work investigates the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of dipole and higher-moment-conserving systems with long-range interactions, drawing inspiration from trapped ion experiments in strongly tilted potentials. We introduce a hierarchical sequence of multipole-conserving models characterized by power-law decaying couplings. Although the moments are always globally conserved, adjusting the power-law exponents of the couplings induces various regimes in which only a subset of multipole moments are effectively locally conserved. We examine the late-time hydrodynamics analytically and numerically using an effective classical framework, uncovering a rich dynamical phase diagram that includes subdiffusion, conventional diffusion, and L\'evy flights. Our results are unified in an analytic reciprocal rule that captures the nested hierarchy of hydrodynamics in multipole conserving systems where only a subset of the moments are locally conserved. Moreover, we extend our findings to higher dimensions and explore the emergence of long timescales, reminiscent of prethermal regimes, in systems with low charge density. Lastly, we corroborate our results through state-of-the-art numerical simulations of a fully quantum long-range dipole-conserving system and discuss their relevance to trapped-ion experimental setups.