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arXiv:2210.14873 · Forum of Mathematics Sigma

Localization in the random XXZ quantum spin chain

Alexander Elgart, Abel Klein

Published Jan 1, 2024• 5 citations
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Abstract

Abstract We study the many-body localization (MBL) properties of the Heisenberg XXZ spin- $\frac 12$ chain in a random magnetic field. We prove that the system exhibits localization in any given energy interval at the bottom of the spectrum in a nontrivial region of the parameter space. This region, which includes weak interaction and strong disorder regimes, is independent of the size of the system and depends only on the energy interval. Our approach is based on the reformulation of the localization problem as an expression of quasi-locality for functions of the random many-body XXZ Hamiltonian. This allows us to extend the fractional moment method for proving localization, previously derived in a single-particle localization context, to the many-body setting.

DOI
10.1017/fms.2024.119

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Abstract We study the many-body localization (MBL) properties of the Heisenberg XXZ spin- 12\frac 1221​ chain in a random magnetic field. We prove that the system exhibits localization in any given energy interval at the bottom of the spectrum in a nontrivial region of the parameter space. This region, which includes weak interaction and strong disorder regimes, is independent of the size of the system and depends only on the energy interval. Our approach is based on the reformulation of the localization problem as an expression of quasi-locality for functions of the random many-body XXZ Hamiltonian. This allows us to extend the fractional moment method for proving localization, previously derived in a single-particle localization context, to the many-body setting.
It is shown that the infinite random Heisenberg XXZ spin-12\frac1221​ chain exhibits slow propagation of information (logarithmic light cone), a key signature of many-body localization (MBL), in any fixed energy interval at the bottom of the spectrum. The relevant parameter regime, which covers both weak interaction and strong disorder, is determined solely by the energy interval.
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 an ergodic instability, whereas at strong disorder the AL insulator directly turns into MBL, in agreement 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 Δ 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 an inversion of orientation ξ_{z}>ξ_{x}. We find that the longitudinal length ξ_{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.
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 [Colbois et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 116502 (2024)] while the distributions of longitudinal correlations reveal unexpected fat tails toward 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.
While there are well-established methods to study delocalization transitions of single particles in random systems, it remains a challenging problem how to characterize many-body delocalization transitions. Here, we use a generalized real-space renormalization group technique to study the anisotropic Heisenberg model with long-range interactions, decaying with a power α , which are generated by placing spins at random positions along the chain. This method permits a large-scale finite-size scaling analysis. We examine the full distribution function of the excitation energy gap from the ground state and observe a crossover with decreasing α . At α c the full distribution coincides with a critical function. Thereby, we find strong evidence for the existence of a many-body localization transition in disordered antiferromagnetic spin chains with long-range interactions.
We present a novel finite-size scaling for both interaction and disorder strengths in the critical regime of the many-body localization (MBL) transition for a spin-1/2 XXZ spin chain with random field by studying the level statistics. We show how the dynamical transition from the thermal to MBL phase depends on interaction together with disorder by evaluating the adjacent gap ratio, and thus, extend previous studies in which the interaction coupling is fixed. We introduce an extra critical exponent in order to describe the nontrivial interaction dependence of the MBL transition. It is characterized by the ratio of the disorder strength to the power of the interaction coupling with respect to the extra critical exponent and not by the simple ratio between them.
Abstract We examine many-body localization properties for the eigenstates that lie in the droplet sector of the random-field spin- 1 2 XXZ chain. These states satisfy a basic single cluster localization property (SCLP), derived in Elgart et al (2018 J. Funct. Anal . (in press)). This leads to many consequences, including dynamical exponential clustering, non-spreading of information under the time evolution, and a zero velocity Lieb–Robinson bound. Since SCLP is only applicable to the droplet sector, our definitions and proofs do not rely on knowledge of the spectral and dynamical characteristics of the model outside this regime. Rather, to allow for a possible mobility transition, we adapt the notion of restricting the Hamiltonian to an energy window from the single particle setting to the many body context.