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arXiv:2404.02914 · Physical Review Research

Quantum many-body scars with unconventional superconducting pairing symmetries via multibody interactions

Shohei Imai, Naoto Tsuji

Published Jan 16, 2025• 10 citations

Abstract

We present a systematic framework to construct model Hamiltonians that have unconventional superconducting pairing states as exact energy eigenstates, by incorporating multibody interactions (i.e., interactions among more than two particles). The multibody interactions are introduced in a form of the local density-density coupling in such a way that any pair configuration in real space has a constant interaction energy by canceling the two-body and multibody interactions. Our approach is applicable to both spinless and spinful models in any spatial dimensions and on any bipartite lattices, facilitating an exhaustive extension of Yang's s − wave η − pairing state to various other unconventional pairing symmetries ( p − wave , d − wave , f − wave , etc.). Particularly, the constructed eigenstates have off-site pairs with finite center-of-mass momentum, which leads to superconducting states with either even-parity and spin-triplet or odd-parity and spin-singlet symmetry. We verify that the two-dimensional spinful Hubbard model on a square lattice with the multibody interactions has the spin-triplet d − wave pairing state as an energy eigenstate, which can be regarded as a quantum many-body scar state as evidenced from the numerical analysis of the pair correlation function, entanglement entropy, and level statistics. We also discuss other examples, including spin-triplet f − wave pairing states on a honeycomb lattice and spin-singlet p − wave pairing states in a one-dimensional chain. These findings open up the possibility of realizing nonequilibrium unconventional superconductivity in a long-lived manner protected against thermalization.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevresearch.7.013064

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We present a systematic framework to construct model Hamiltonians that have unconventional superconducting pairing states as exact energy eigenstates, by incorporating multibody interactions (i.e., interactions among more than two particles). The multibody interactions are introduced in a form of the local density-density coupling in such a way that any pair configuration in real space has a constant interaction energy by canceling the two-body and multibody interactions. Our approach is applicable to both spinless and spinful models in any spatial dimensions and on any bipartite lattices, facilitating an exhaustive extension of Yang's s − wave η − pairing state to various other unconventional pairing symmetries ( p − wave , d − wave , f − wave , etc.). Particularly, the constructed eigenstates have off-site pairs with finite center-of-mass momentum, which leads to superconducting states with either even-parity and spin-triplet or odd-parity and spin-singlet symmetry. We verify that the two-dimensional spinful Hubbard model on a square lattice with the multibody interactions has the spin-triplet d − wave pairing state as an energy eigenstate, which can be regarded as a quantum many-body scar state as evidenced from the numerical analysis of the pair correlation function, entanglement entropy, and level statistics. We also discuss other examples, including spin-triplet f − wave pairing states on a honeycomb lattice and spin-singlet p − wave pairing states in a one-dimensional chain. These findings open up the possibility of realizing nonequilibrium unconventional superconductivity in a long-lived manner protected against thermalization.

Weak ergodicity breaking in interacting quantum systems may occur due to the existence of a subspace dynamically decoupled from the rest of the Hilbert space. In two-orbital spinful lattice systems, we construct such subspaces that are in addition distinguished by strongest inter-orbital and spin-singlet or spin-triplet, long-range superconducting pairing correlations. All unconventional pairing types we consider are local in space and unitary. Alternatively to orbitals, the additional degree of freedom could originate from the presence of two layers or through any other mechanism. Required Hamiltonians are rather non-exotic and include chemical potential, Hubbard, and spin-orbit interactions typically used for two-orbital superconducting materials. Each subspace is spanned by a family of group-invariant quantum many-body scars combining both 2e and 4e pairing/clustering contributions. One of the basis states has the form of a BCS wavefunction and can always be made the ground state by adding a mean-field pairing potential. Analytical results in this work are lattice-, dimension- and (mostly) system size-independent. We confirm them by exact numerical diagonalization in small systems.

The $\ensuremath{\eta}$-pairing states are a set of exactly known eigenstates of the Hubbard model on hypercubic lattices, first discovered by Yang [C. N. Yang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 2144 (1989)]. These states are not many-body scar states in the Hubbard model because they occupy unique symmetry sectors defined by the so-called $\ensuremath{\eta}$-pairing SU(2) symmetry. We study an extended Hubbard model with bond-charge interactions, popularized by Hirsch [J. E. Hirsch, Physica C 158, 326 (1989)], where the $\ensuremath{\eta}$-pairing states survive without the $\ensuremath{\eta}$-pairing symmetry and become true scar states. We also discuss similarities between the $\ensuremath{\eta}$-pairing states and exact scar towers in the spin-1 XY model found by Schecter and Iadecola [M. Schecter and T. Iadecola, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 147201 (2019)], and systematically arrive at all nearest-neighbor terms that preserve such scar towers in one dimension. We also generalize these terms to arbitrary bipartite lattices. Our study of the spin-1 XY model also leads us to several scarred models, including a spin-1/2 ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, in realistic quantum magnet settings in one and two dimensions.

We construct many-body scar states in multi-flavour fermionic lattice models that possess strong magnetic or superconducting correlations of a given type specified by a unitary matrix

A

. One of the states maximizes the one-point correlations over the full Hilbert space and has the form of the BCS wavefunction. It may always be made the ground state by adding the correlations as a "pairing potential" to any Hamiltonian supporting group-invariant scars. In our single-flavour, spin-full fermions example we consider a superconducting

A

. The BCS scar ground state is a linear combination of the well-known

η

-pairing states. In the multi-orbital fermions example the BCS-like ground state maximizes unconventional magnetic correlations. The broad class of eligible Hamiltonians includes many conventional condensed matter interactions. The part of the Hamiltonian that governs the exact dynamics of the scar subspace coincides with the BCS mean-field Hamiltonian. We therefore show that its eigenstates are many-body scars that are decoupled from the rest of the Hilbert space and thereby protected from thermalization. Our results point out a connection between the fields of superconductivity and weak ergodicity breaking (many-body scars) and will hopefully encourage further investigations. They also provide the first feasible protocol to initialize a fermionic system to a scar state in (a quantum simulator) experiment.

We investigate three-component Hubbard models on a bipartite lattice in the presence of a trans?verse field. Unlike the two-component Hubbard model, where the η-pairing symmetry survives the transverse field, the three-component model possesses neither η-pairing symmetry nor conservation of the particle number of each component. We introduce a generalized η-pairing operator, formed as a hybridization of three types of two-component pairing operators, and employ the restricted spectrum-generating algebra to construct a family of exact eigenstates. These eigenstates exhibit off-diagonal long-range order. Furthermore, we construct an exact tensor-product state whose co?herent periodic dynamics provide an exact realization of quantum many-body scar dynamics while simultaneously exhibiting long-range magnetic order. We also propose three protocols for preparing this state via quench dynamics, and verify their effectiveness through numerical simulations.

Additional quantum many-body scars of the spin-

1

XY

model with Fock-space cages and commutant algebras

Quantum many-body scars (QMBS) represent a mechanism for weak ergodicity breaking, characterized by the coexistence of atypical non-thermal eigenstates within an otherwise thermalizing many-body spectrum. In this work, we revisit the spin-

1

XY

model on a periodic chain and construct several new families of exact scar eigenstates embedded within its extensively degenerate manifolds that owe their origins to an interplay of

U(1)

magnetization conservation and chiral symmetries. We go beyond previously studied towers of states and first identify a novel set of interference-protected eigenstates resembling Fock space cage states, where destructive interference confines the wave function to sparse subgraphs of the Fock space. These states exhibit subextensive entanglement entropy, and when subjected to a transverse magnetic field, form equally spaced ladders whose coherent superpositions display long-lived fidelity oscillations. We further reveal a simpler organizing principle behind these nonthermal states by using the commutant algebra framework, in particular by showing that they are simultaneous eigenstates of non-commuting local operators. Moreover, in doing so, we uncover two more novel families of exact scars: a tower of volume-entangled states, and a set of mirror-dimer states with some free local degrees of freedom. Our results illustrate the power and interplay of interference-based and algebraic mechanisms of non-ergodicity, offering systematic routes to identifying and classifying QMBS in generic many-body quantum systems.

We introduce a class of spinless fermion models that exhibit quantum many-body scars (QMBS) originating from kinetic constraints in the form of density-assisted hopping. The models can be defined on any lattice in any dimension and allow for spatially varying interactions. We construct a tower of exact eigenstates with finite energy density, and we demonstrate that these QMBS are responsible for the nonthermal nature of the system by studying the entanglement entropy and correlation functions. The quench dynamics from certain initial states is also investigated, and it is confirmed that the QMBS induce nonthermalizing dynamics. As another characterization of the QMBS, we give a parent Hamiltonian for which the QMBS are unique ground states. We also prove the uniqueness rigorously.