Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2308.01073 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Many-body mobility edge in quantum sun models

Konrad Pawlik, Piotr Sierant, Lev Vidmar, Jakub Zakrzewski

Published May 13, 2024• 15 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The quantum sun model is an interacting model that exhibits sharp signatures of ergodicity breaking phase transition. Here, we show that the model exhibits a many-body mobility edge. We provide analytical arguments for its existence, complemented by the state-of-the-art numerical simulations analyzing gap ratios, Thouless times as well as entanglement entropy of eigenstates. We also introduce the quantum sun model with particle number conservation and argue that it shares many similarities with its unrestricted predecessor.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.109.l180201

Related papers

Fading ergodicity meets maximal chaos

Rafał Świętek, Patrycja Łydżba, Lev Vidmar

Fading ergodicity provides a theoretical framework for understanding deviations from the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) near ergodicity-breaking transitions. In this work we demonstrate that the position of the ergodicity-breaking critical point in the quantum sun model coincides with the peak of the maximally divergent fidelity susceptibility. We further extend our analysis to the energy-resolved ergodicity-breaking transition associated with the many-body mobility edge. Specifically, we show that fidelity susceptibilities at energies away from the middle of the spectrum exhibit a divergent peak near the mobility edge. We argue that fading ergodicity provides a simple and accurate description of the ETH breakdown in the quantum sun model, which is accompanied with the emergence of a peak in fidelity susceptibility and the onset of maximal chaos at the ergodicity-breaking critical point.

arXiv:2502.09711•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•May 27, 2025•7 citations

Many-Body Localization and Quantum Nonergodicity in a Model with a Single-Particle Mobility Edge

Xiaopeng Li, Sriram Ganeshan, J. H. Pixley +1 more

We investigate many-body localization in the presence of a single-particle mobility edge. By considering an interacting deterministic model with an incommensurate potential in one dimension we find that the single-particle mobility edge in the noninteracting system leads to a many-body mobility edge in the corresponding interacting system for certain parameter regimes. Using exact diagonalization, we probe the mobility edge via energy resolved entanglement entropy (EE) and study the energy resolved applicability (or failure) of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH). Our numerical results indicate that the transition separating area and volume law scaling of the EE does not coincide with the nonthermal to thermal transition. Consequently, there exists an extended nonergodic phase for an intermediate energy window where the many-body eigenstates violate the ETH while manifesting volume law EE scaling. We also establish that the model possesses an infinite temperature many-body localization transition despite the existence of a single-particle mobility edge. We propose a practical scheme to test our predictions in atomic optical lattice experiments which can directly probe the effects of the mobility edge.

arXiv:1504.00016•Physical Review Letters•Oct 28, 2015•169 citations

Detecting a many-body mobility edge with quantum quenches

Piero Naldesi, Elisa Ercolessi, Tommaso Roscilde

The many-body localization (MBL) transition is a quantum phase transition involving highly excited eigenstates of a disordered quantum many-body Hamiltonian, which evolve from “extended/ergodic" (exhibiting extensive entanglement entropies and fluctuations) to “localized" (exhibiting area-law scaling of entanglement and fluctuations). The MBL transition can be driven by the strength of disorder in a given spectral range, or by the energy density at fixed disorder – if the system possesses a many-body mobility edge. Here we propose to explore the latter mechanism by using “quantum-quench spectroscopy", namely via quantum quenches of variable width which prepare the state of the system in a superposition of eigenstates of the Hamiltonian within a controllable spectral region. Studying numerically a chain of interacting spinless fermions in a quasi-periodic potential, we argue that this system has a many-body mobility edge; and we show that its existence translates into a clear dynamical transition in the time evolution immediately following a quench in the strength of the quasi-periodic potential, as well as a transition in the scaling properties of the quasi-stationary state at long times. Our results suggest a practical scheme for the experimental observation of many-body mobility edges using cold-atom setups.

arXiv:1607.01285•SciPost Physics•Oct 27, 2016•71 citations

Quantum nonergodicity and fermion localization in a system with a single-particle mobility edge

Xiaopeng Li, J. H. Pixley, Dong-Ling Deng +2 more

Quantum thermalization of isolated systems undergoing unitary time evolution is a fundamental problem in quantum statistical mechanics. Its study has been revived recently in the context of many-body Anderson localization. Previous works have focused on localization of many-body systems with all the single-particle states being localized. As a significant step forward, this work studies localization aspects of noninteracting many-particle systems in the presence of a single-particle mobility edge. By systemically investigating entanglement entropy scaling and nonthermal fluctuations in various lattice models, the authors establish a nonergodic extended phase as a generic intermediate phase (between purely ergodic extended and nonergodic localized phases) for the many-body localization transition of noninteracting fermions. This work also sheds light on the interacting transition scenario as well.

arXiv:1602.01849•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•May 31, 2016•104 citations

Fading ergodicity

Maksymilian Kliczkowski, Rafał Świętek, Miroslav Hopjan +1 more

Eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) represents a breakthrough in many-body physics since it allows us to link thermalization of physical observables with the applicability of random matrix theory (RMT). Recent years were also extremely fruitful in exploring possible counterexamples to thermalization, ranging, among others, from integrability, single-particle chaos, many-body localization, many-body scars, to Hilbert-space fragmentation. In all these cases the conventional ETH is violated. However, it remains elusive how the conventional ETH breaks down when one approaches the boundaries of ergodicity, and whether the range of validity of the conventional ETH coincides with the validity of RMT-like spectral statistics. Here we bridge this gap and we introduce a scenario of the ETH breakdown in many-body quantum systems, dubbed fading ergodicity regime, which establishes a link between the conventional ETH and nonergodic behavior. We conjecture this scenario to be relevant for the description of finite many-body systems at the boundaries of ergodicity, and we provide numerical and analytical arguments for its validity in the quantum sun model of ergodicity-breaking phase transition. For the latter, we provide evidence that the breakdown of the conventional ETH is not associated with the breakdown of the RMT-like spectral statistics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

arXiv:2407.16773•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Oct 24, 2024•12 citations

Mobility edge in long-range interacting many-body localized systems

Rozhin Yousefjani, Abolfazl Bayat

As disorder strength increases in quantum many-body systems a new phase of matter, the so-called many-body localization, emerges across the whole spectrum. This transition is energy dependent, a phenomenon known as mobility edge, such that the mid-spectrum eigenstates tend to localize at larger values of disorder in comparison to eigenstates near the edges of the spectrum. Many-body localization becomes more sophisticated in long-range interacting systems. Here, by focusing on several quantities, we draw the phase diagram as a function of disorder strength and energy spectrum, for a various range of interactions. Regardless of the underlying transition type, either second-order or Kosterlitz-Thouless, our analysis consistently determines the mobility edge, i.e., the phase boundary across the spectrum. We show that, long-range interaction enhances the localization effect and shifts the phase boundary towards smaller values of disorder. In addition, we establish a hierarchy among the studied quantities concerning their corresponding transition boundary and critical exponents. Interestingly, we show that deliberately discarding some information of the system can mitigate finite-size effects and provide results in line with the analytical predictions at the thermodynamic limit.

arXiv:2209.01337•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jan 6, 2023•21 citations
The quantum sun model is an interacting model that exhibits sharp signatures of ergodicity breaking phase transition. Here, we show that the model exhibits a many-body mobility edge. We provide analytical arguments for its existence, complemented by the state-of-the-art numerical simulations analyzing gap ratios, Thouless times as well as entanglement entropy of eigenstates. We also introduce the quantum sun model with particle number conservation and argue that it shares many similarities with its unrestricted predecessor.
Fading ergodicity provides a theoretical framework for understanding deviations from the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) near ergodicity-breaking transitions. In this work we demonstrate that the position of the ergodicity-breaking critical point in the quantum sun model coincides with the peak of the maximally divergent fidelity susceptibility. We further extend our analysis to the energy-resolved ergodicity-breaking transition associated with the many-body mobility edge. Specifically, we show that fidelity susceptibilities at energies away from the middle of the spectrum exhibit a divergent peak near the mobility edge. We argue that fading ergodicity provides a simple and accurate description of the ETH breakdown in the quantum sun model, which is accompanied with the emergence of a peak in fidelity susceptibility and the onset of maximal chaos at the ergodicity-breaking critical point.
We investigate many-body localization in the presence of a single-particle mobility edge. By considering an interacting deterministic model with an incommensurate potential in one dimension we find that the single-particle mobility edge in the noninteracting system leads to a many-body mobility edge in the corresponding interacting system for certain parameter regimes. Using exact diagonalization, we probe the mobility edge via energy resolved entanglement entropy (EE) and study the energy resolved applicability (or failure) of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH). Our numerical results indicate that the transition separating area and volume law scaling of the EE does not coincide with the nonthermal to thermal transition. Consequently, there exists an extended nonergodic phase for an intermediate energy window where the many-body eigenstates violate the ETH while manifesting volume law EE scaling. We also establish that the model possesses an infinite temperature many-body localization transition despite the existence of a single-particle mobility edge. We propose a practical scheme to test our predictions in atomic optical lattice experiments which can directly probe the effects of the mobility edge.
The many-body localization (MBL) transition is a quantum phase transition involving highly excited eigenstates of a disordered quantum many-body Hamiltonian, which evolve from “extended/ergodic" (exhibiting extensive entanglement entropies and fluctuations) to “localized" (exhibiting area-law scaling of entanglement and fluctuations). The MBL transition can be driven by the strength of disorder in a given spectral range, or by the energy density at fixed disorder – if the system possesses a many-body mobility edge. Here we propose to explore the latter mechanism by using “quantum-quench spectroscopy", namely via quantum quenches of variable width which prepare the state of the system in a superposition of eigenstates of the Hamiltonian within a controllable spectral region. Studying numerically a chain of interacting spinless fermions in a quasi-periodic potential, we argue that this system has a many-body mobility edge; and we show that its existence translates into a clear dynamical transition in the time evolution immediately following a quench in the strength of the quasi-periodic potential, as well as a transition in the scaling properties of the quasi-stationary state at long times. Our results suggest a practical scheme for the experimental observation of many-body mobility edges using cold-atom setups.
Quantum thermalization of isolated systems undergoing unitary time evolution is a fundamental problem in quantum statistical mechanics. Its study has been revived recently in the context of many-body Anderson localization. Previous works have focused on localization of many-body systems with all the single-particle states being localized. As a significant step forward, this work studies localization aspects of noninteracting many-particle systems in the presence of a single-particle mobility edge. By systemically investigating entanglement entropy scaling and nonthermal fluctuations in various lattice models, the authors establish a nonergodic extended phase as a generic intermediate phase (between purely ergodic extended and nonergodic localized phases) for the many-body localization transition of noninteracting fermions. This work also sheds light on the interacting transition scenario as well.
Eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) represents a breakthrough in many-body physics since it allows us to link thermalization of physical observables with the applicability of random matrix theory (RMT). Recent years were also extremely fruitful in exploring possible counterexamples to thermalization, ranging, among others, from integrability, single-particle chaos, many-body localization, many-body scars, to Hilbert-space fragmentation. In all these cases the conventional ETH is violated. However, it remains elusive how the conventional ETH breaks down when one approaches the boundaries of ergodicity, and whether the range of validity of the conventional ETH coincides with the validity of RMT-like spectral statistics. Here we bridge this gap and we introduce a scenario of the ETH breakdown in many-body quantum systems, dubbed fading ergodicity regime, which establishes a link between the conventional ETH and nonergodic behavior. We conjecture this scenario to be relevant for the description of finite many-body systems at the boundaries of ergodicity, and we provide numerical and analytical arguments for its validity in the quantum sun model of ergodicity-breaking phase transition. For the latter, we provide evidence that the breakdown of the conventional ETH is not associated with the breakdown of the RMT-like spectral statistics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
As disorder strength increases in quantum many-body systems a new phase of matter, the so-called many-body localization, emerges across the whole spectrum. This transition is energy dependent, a phenomenon known as mobility edge, such that the mid-spectrum eigenstates tend to localize at larger values of disorder in comparison to eigenstates near the edges of the spectrum. Many-body localization becomes more sophisticated in long-range interacting systems. Here, by focusing on several quantities, we draw the phase diagram as a function of disorder strength and energy spectrum, for a various range of interactions. Regardless of the underlying transition type, either second-order or Kosterlitz-Thouless, our analysis consistently determines the mobility edge, i.e., the phase boundary across the spectrum. We show that, long-range interaction enhances the localization effect and shifts the phase boundary towards smaller values of disorder. In addition, we establish a hierarchy among the studied quantities concerning their corresponding transition boundary and critical exponents. Interestingly, we show that deliberately discarding some information of the system can mitigate finite-size effects and provide results in line with the analytical predictions at the thermodynamic limit.