The apparent randomness of chaotic eigenstates in interacting quantum systems hides subtle correlations dynamically imposed by their finite energy per particle. These correlations are revealed when Berry's approach for chaotic eigenfunctions in single-particle systems is lifted into many-body space. We achieve this by a many-body semiclassical analysis, appropriate for the mesoscopic regime of a large but finite number of particles. We thereby identify as signatures of chaotic many-body eigenstates the universality of both their cross-correlations and the Gaussian distribution of expansion coefficients. Combined, these two features imprint characteristic features to the morphology of eigenstates that we check against extensive quantum simulations. The universality of eigenstate correlations for fixed energy density is hence a further signature of many-body quantum chaos that, while consistent with the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, lies beyond random matrix theory.
The apparent randomness of chaotic eigenstates in interacting quantum systems hides subtle correlations dynamically imposed by their finite energy per particle. These correlations are revealed when Berry's approach for chaotic eigenfunctions in single-particle systems is lifted into many-body space. We achieve this by a many-body semiclassical analysis, appropriate for the mesoscopic regime of a large but finite number of particles. We thereby identify as signatures of chaotic many-body eigenstates the universality of both their cross-correlations and the Gaussian distribution of expansion coefficients. Combined, these two features imprint characteristic features to the morphology of eigenstates that we check against extensive quantum simulations. The universality of eigenstate correlations for fixed energy density is hence a further signature of many-body quantum chaos that, while consistent with the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, lies beyond random matrix theory.
In this paper, we use the Feingold-Peres model, a well-known paradigm of quantum chaos, as an example. Using semiclassical analysis and numerical simulations, we investigate the statistical properties of observables in few-body systems with chaotic classical limits and the emergence of random-matrix-theory universality. More specifically, we focus on (1) the applicability of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in few-body systems and the dependence of its form on the effective Planck constant and (2) the existence of a universal random-matrix-theory description of observables when truncated to a small microcanonical energy window. Our results provide insights into the established field of few-body quantum chaos and help bridge it to modern perspectives, such as the general eigenstate thermalization hypothesis.
In quantum systems with a classical limit, advanced semiclassical methods provide the crucial link between phase-space structures, reflecting the distinction between chaotic, mixed or integrable classical dynamics, and the corresponding quantum properties. Well established techniques dealing with ergodic wave interference in the usual semiclassical limit ℏ→0, where the classical limit is given by Hamiltonian mechanics of particles, constitute a now standard part of the toolkit of theoretical physics. During the last years, these ideas have been extended into the field theoretical domain of systems composed of N indistinguishable particles, aka quantum fields, displaying a different type of semiclassical limit ℏeff=1/N→0 and accounting for genuine many-body quantum interference. The foundational concept behind this idea of many-body interference, the many-body version of the van Vleck-Gutzwillers semiclassical propagator, is explained in detail. Based on this the corresponding semiclassical many-body theory is reviewed. It provides a unified framework for understanding a variety of quantum chaotic phenomena addressed, including random-matrix spectral correlations in many-body systems, the universal morphology of many-body eigenstates, interference effects kin to mesoscopic weak localization, and the key to the scrambling of many-body correlations characterized by out-of-time-order correlators.
Phenomena in quantum chaotic systems such as spectral fluctuations are known to be described remarkably well by the random matrix theory (RMT) in small energy intervals and over large time scales. However, in exchange for analytical tractability, RMT has been constructed to leave out an important element of realistic physical systems { the notion of locality. Since quantum information propagates at a finite speed in a spatially-extended quantum chaotic system, there exists time scales before which RMT is effective. How do we describe the non-equilibrium quantum dynamics at intermediate timescales which are much longer than the local relaxation time but too short for RMT to apply? What are the signatures of many-body quantum chaotic systems beyond the description of RMT? In this thesis, we address these questions by analysing minimal models that incorporate a notion of locality and at the same time retain some analytical tractability of RMT. More specifically, we study Floquet quantum circuits that are random in space but periodic in time. These circuits consist of local and random quantum gates that act on a q-state `spin' at each site. After a brief review of classical chaos, quantum chaos, and quantum circuits in Chapter 1, we present three main results. In Chapter 2, we formulate a diagrammatical approach for computing ensemble averages of observables over random unitary circuits, and derive exact results on spectral statistics and dynamical observables for a Floquet circuit in the large-q limit. In Chapter 3, we further investigate the spectral statistics in spatiallyextended many-body quantum chaotic systems by computing the spectral form factor K(t) analytically and numerically. We show that K(t) follows the RMT description at times longer than the Thouless time tTh and identify the scaling of tTh at the large-q limit of a Floquet circuit. In Chapter 4, we discuss eigenstate correlations for spatially-extended many-body quantum chaotic systems, in terms of the statistical properties of matrix elements of local observables. While the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) is known to give an excellent description of these quantities, the phenomenon of scrambling and the butterfly effect imply structure beyond ETH. We determine analytically and verify numerically the universal form of this structure at long distances and small eigenvalue separations for Floquet systems.
The emergence of random matrix spectral correlations in interacting quantum systems is a defining feature of quantum chaos. We study such correlations in terms of the spectral form factor and its moments in interacting chaotic few- and many-body systems, modeled by suitable random-matrix ensembles. We obtain the spectral form factor exactly for large Hilbert space dimension. Extrapolating those results to finite Hilbert space dimension we find a universal transition from the non-interacting to the strongly interacting case, which can be described as a simple combination of these two limits. This transition is governed by a single scaling parameter. In the bipartite case we derive similar results also for all moments of the spectral form factor. We confirm our results by extensive numerical studies and demonstrate that they apply to more realistic systems given by a pair of quantized kicked rotors as well. Ultimately we complement our analysis by a perturbative approach covering the small coupling regime.
The emergence of random matrix spectral correlations in interacting quantum systems is a defining feature of quantum chaos. We study such correlations in terms of the spectral form factor and its moments in interacting chaotic few- and many-body systems, modeled by suitable random-matrix ensembles. We obtain the spectral form factor exactly for large Hilbert space dimension. Extrapolating those results to finite Hilbert space dimension we find a universal transition from the noninteracting to the strongly interacting case, which can be described as a simple combination of these two limits. This transition is governed by a single scaling parameter. In the bipartite case we derive similar results also for all moments of the spectral form factor. We confirm our results by extensive numerical studies and demonstrate that they apply to more realistic systems given by a pair of quantized kicked rotors as well. Ultimately we complement our analysis by a perturbative approach covering the small-coupling regime.
A key goal of quantum chaos is to establish a relationship between widely observed universal spectral fluctuations of clean quantum systems and random matrix theory (RMT).Most prominent features of such RMT behavior with respect to a random spectrum, both encompassed in spectral pair correlation function, are statistical suppression of small level spacings (correlation hole) and enhanced stiffness of the spectrum at large spectral ranges.For single particle systems with fully chaotic classical counterparts, the problem has been partly solved by Berry [Proc.R. Soc.London, A400, 229 (1985)] within the so-called diagonal approximation of semiclassical periodic-orbit sums, while the derivation of the full RMT spectral form factor K(t) (Fourier transform of spectral pair correlation function), from semiclassics has been completed by Müller et al. [Phys.Rev. Lett.93, 014103 (2004)].In recent years, the questions of long-time dynamics at high energies, for which the full many-body energy spectrum becomes relevant, are coming at the forefront even for simple many-body quantum systems, such as locally interacting spin chains.Such systems display two universal types of behaviour which are termed as the 'many-body localized phase' and 'ergodic phase'.In the ergodic phase, the spectral fluctuations are excellently described by RMT, even for very simple interactions and in the absence of any external source of disorder.Here we provide a clear theoretical explanation for these observations.We compute K(t) in the leading two orders in t and show its agreement with RMT for non-integrable, time-reversal invariant many-body systems without classical counterparts, a generic example of which are Ising spin 1/2 models in a periodically kicking transverse field.In particular, we relate K(t) to partition functions of a class of twisted classical Ising models on a ring of size t, hence the leading order RMT behavior K(t)2t is a consequence of translation and reflection symmetry of the Ising partition function.