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arXiv:2308.00738 · SciPost Physics Core

Exact Mazur bounds in the pair-flip model and beyond

Oliver Hart

Published Jul 4, 2024• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

By mapping the calculation of Mazur bounds to the enumeration of walks on fractal structures, we present exact bounds on the late-time behavior of spin autocorrelation functions in models exhibiting pair-flip dynamics and more general p-flip dynamics. While the pair-flip model is known to exhibit strong Hilbert space fragmentation, the effect of its nontrivial conservation laws on autocorrelation functions has, thus far, only been calculated numerically, which has led to incorrect conclusions about their thermodynamic behavior. Here, using exact results, we prove that infinite-temperature autocorrelation functions exhibit infinite coherence times at the boundary, and that bulk Mazur bounds decay asymptotically as 1/ \sqrt{L} L , rather than 1/L, as had previously been thought. This result implies that the nontrivial conserved operators implied by p-flip dynamics have an important qualitative impact on bulk thermalization properties beyond the constraints imposed by the simple global symmetries of the models.

DOI
10.21468/scipostphyscore.7.3.040

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By mapping the calculation of Mazur bounds to the enumeration of walks on fractal structures, we present exact bounds on the late-time behavior of spin autocorrelation functions in models exhibiting pair-flip dynamics and more general p-flip dynamics. While the pair-flip model is known to exhibit strong Hilbert space fragmentation, the effect of its nontrivial conservation laws on autocorrelation functions has, thus far, only been calculated numerically, which has led to incorrect conclusions about their thermodynamic behavior. Here, using exact results, we prove that infinite-temperature autocorrelation functions exhibit infinite coherence times at the boundary, and that bulk Mazur bounds decay asymptotically as 1/ \sqrt{L} L , rather than 1/L, as had previously been thought. This result implies that the nontrivial conserved operators implied by p-flip dynamics have an important qualitative impact on bulk thermalization properties beyond the constraints imposed by the simple global symmetries of the models.
We study higher dimensional models with symmetric correlated hoppings, which generalize a one-dimensional model introduced in the context of dipole-conserving dynamics. We prove rigorously that whenever the local configuration space takes its smallest non-trivial value, these models exhibit localized behavior due to fragmentation, in any dimension. For the same class of models, we then construct a hierarchy of conserved quantities that are power-law localized at the boundary of the system with increasing powers. Combining these with Mazur’s bound, we prove that boundary correlations are infinitely long lived, even when the bulk is not localized. We use our results to construct quantum Hamiltonians that exhibit the analogues of strong zero modes in two and higher dimensions.
Time-dependent spin-autocorrelation functions at T=\ensuremath{\infty} and (in particular) their spectral densities for the bulk spin and the boundary spin of the semi-infinite spin-1/2 XXZ model (with exchange parameters Jx{\mathit{J}}_{\mathit{x}}Jx​=Jy{\mathit{J}}_{\mathit{y}}Jy​\ensuremath{\equiv}J, Jz{\mathit{J}}_{\mathit{z}}Jz​) are investigated on the basis of (i) rigorous bounds in the time domain and (ii) a continued-fraction analysis in the frequency domain. We have found strong numerical evidence for spin diffusion in quantum spin models. For Jz{\mathit{J}}_{\mathit{z}}Jz​/J increasing from zero, the results of the short-time expansion indicate a change of the bulk-spin xx-autocorrelation function from Gaussian decay to exponential decay. The continued-fraction analysis of the same dynamic quantity signals a change from exponential decay to power-law decay as Jz{\mathit{J}}_{\mathit{z}}Jz​/J approaches unity and back to a more rapid decay upon further increase of that parameter. By contrast, the change in symmetry at Jz{\mathit{J}}_{\mathit{z}}Jz​/J=1 has virtually no impact on the bulk-spin zz-autocorrelation function (as expected). Similar contrasting properties are observable in the boundary-spin autocorrelation functions.
Local coherences between distinct charge sectors--measured by the single-particle Green's function or the transverse spin autocorrelation function--do not overlap with hydrodynamic modes. At finite temperature, therefore, they decay faster than any power law in generic chaotic systems. We present a mechanism by which these coherences can persist anomalously long, for integrable and chaotic spin chains (including the XXZ and Fredkin spin chains) that obey a quantum group symmetry. We show--using a Mazur bound derived from the quantum-group symmetry, together with locality and a "non-undershoot" assumption--that the transverse spin autocorrelation function C(t)≡⟨σx−(t)σx+(0)⟩C(t) \equiv \langle σ^-_x(t) σ^+_x(0)\rangleC(t)≡⟨σx−​(t)σx+​(0)⟩ can decay at most algebraically: C(t)≳1/t2C(t) \gtrsim 1/t^2C(t)≳1/t2. This bound is not tight: in the large-anisotropy limit of the XXZ spin chain, at infinite temperature, we explicitly compute C(t)∼3/(18t)C(t) \sim \sqrt{3}/(18 \sqrt{t})C(t)∼3​/(18t​). We also compute this decay rate in the XXZ spin chain for general easy-axis anisotropy, and estimate it to scale as C(t)∼t−2/zC(t) \sim t^{-2/z}C(t)∼t−2/z (for transport exponent zzz) in the chaotic models.
Dynamic spin correlation functions 〈Six{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{x}}Six​(t)Sjx{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{j}}^{\mathit{x}}Sjx​〉 for the one-dimensional S=1/2 XX model H=-Jtsumi{\mathit{Jtsum}}_{\mathit{i}}Jtsumi​{Six{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{x}}Six​Si+1x{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}+1}^{\mathit{x}}Si+1x​+Siy{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{y}}Siy​Si{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}}Si​ $_{+1}^{\mathit{y}}\mathrm{}}$ are calculated exactly for finite open chains with up to N=10 000 spins. Over a certain time range the results are free of finite-size effects and thus represent correlation functions of an infinite chain (bulk regime) or a semi-infinite chain (boundary regime). In the bulk regime, the long-time asymptotic decay as inferred by extrapolation is Gaussian at T=\ensuremath{\infty}, exponential at 0T\ensuremath{\infty}, and power law (\ensuremath{\sim}${\mathit{t}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1/2}$) at T=0, in agreement with exact results. In the boundary regime, a power-law decay is obtained at all temperatures; the characteristic exponent is universal at T=0 (\ensuremath{\sim}${\mathit{t}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$) and at 0T\ensuremath{\infty}(\ensuremath{\sim}${\mathit{t}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3/2}$), but is site dependent at T=\ensuremath{\infty}. In the high-temperature regime (T/J\ensuremath{\gg}1) and in the low-temperature regime (T/J\ensuremath{\ll}1), crossovers between different decay laws can be observed in 〈Six{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{x}}Six​(t)Sjx{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{j}}^{\mathit{x}}Sjx​〉. Additional crossovers are found between bulk-tpe and boundary-type decay for i=j near the boundary, and between spacelike and timelike behavior for i\ensuremath{\ne}j.
A continuous family of quasilocal exact conservation laws is constructed in the anisotropic Heisenberg (XXZ) spin-1/2 chain for periodic (or twisted) boundary conditions and for a set of commensurate anisotropies densely covering the entire easy plane interaction regime. All local conserved operators follow from the standard (Hermitian) transfer operator in fundamental representation (with auxiliary spin s=1/2), and are all even with respect to a spin flip operation. However, the quasilocal family is generated by differentiation of a non-Hermitian highest weight transfer operator with respect to a complex auxiliary spin representation parameter s and includes also operators of odd parity. For a finite chain with open boundaries the time derivatives of quasilocal operators are not strictly vanishing but result in operators localized near the boundaries of the chain. We show that a simple modification of the non-Hermitian transfer operator results in exactly conserved, but still quasilocal operators for periodic or generally twisted boundary conditions. As an application, we demonstrate that implementing the new exactly conserved operator family for estimating the high-temperature spin Drude weight results, in the thermodynamic limit, in exactly the same lower bound as for almost conserved family and open boundaries. Under the assumption that the bound is saturating (suggested by agreement with previous thermodynamic Bethe ansatz calculations) we propose a simple explicit construction of infinite time averages of local operators such as the spin current.
The phenomenon of Hilbert space fragmentation, whereby dynamical constraints fragment Hilbert space into many disconnected sectors, provides a simple mechanism by which thermalization can be arrested. However, little is known about how thermalization occurs in situations where the constraints are not exact. To study this, we consider a situation in which a fragmented 1d chain with pair-flip constraints is coupled to an ergodicity-restoring thermal bath at its boundary. We numerically observe an exponentially long thermalization time in Hamiltonian dynamics, manifested in both entanglement dynamics and the relaxation of local observables. To understand this, we study an analogous model of random unitary circuit dynamics, whose thermalization time we prove scales exponentially with system size. Slow thermalization in this model is shown to be a consequence of strong bottlenecks in configuration space, which restrict how the system can explore Hilbert space, and demonstrate a new way of producing anomalously slow thermalization dynamics.