We study the nonequilibrium dynamics of the dissipative quantum East model via numerical tensor networks. We use matrix product states to represent evolution under quantum-jump unravellings for sizes beyond those accessible to exact diagonalization. This allows us to demonstrate that dynamical heterogeneity accompanies slow relaxation, in analogy with what is seen in classical glassy systems. Furthermore, using variational matrix product operators we (i) compute the spectral gap of the Lindbladian and show that glassiness is enhanced in the presence of weak quantum fluctuations compared to the pure classical case, and (ii) obtain the dynamical large deviations by calculating the leading eigenvector of the tilted Lindbladian and find clear evidence for a first-order active-inactive dynamical phase transition. We also show how to directly sample the rare quantum trajectories associated to the large deviations.
We study the nonequilibrium dynamics of the dissipative quantum East model via numerical tensor networks. We use matrix product states to represent evolution under quantum-jump unravellings for sizes beyond those accessible to exact diagonalization. This allows us to demonstrate that dynamical heterogeneity accompanies slow relaxation, in analogy with what is seen in classical glassy systems. Furthermore, using variational matrix product operators we (i) compute the spectral gap of the Lindbladian and show that glassiness is enhanced in the presence of weak quantum fluctuations compared to the pure classical case, and (ii) obtain the dynamical large deviations by calculating the leading eigenvector of the tilted Lindbladian and find clear evidence for a first-order active-inactive dynamical phase transition. We also show how to directly sample the rare quantum trajectories associated to the large deviations.
Here we demonstrate that tensor network techniques-originally devised for the analysis of quantum many-body problems-are well suited for the detailed study of rare event statistics in kinetically constrained models (KCMs). As concrete examples, we consider the Fredrickson-Andersen and East models, two paradigmatic KCMs relevant to the modeling of glasses. We show how variational matrix product states allow us to numerically approximate-systematically and with high accuracy-the leading eigenstates of the tilted dynamical generators, which encode the large deviation statistics of the dynamics. Via this approach, we can study system sizes beyond what is possible with other methods, allowing us to characterize in detail the finite size scaling of the trajectory-space phase transition of these models, the behavior of spectral gaps, and the spatial structure and "entanglement" properties of dynamical phases. We discuss the broader implications of our results.
We use projected entangled-pair states (PEPS) to calculate the large deviation statistics of the dynamical activity of the two-dimensional East model, and the two-dimensional symmetric simple exclusion process (SSEP) with open boundaries, in lattices of up to 40×40 sites. We show that at long times both models have phase transitions between active and inactive dynamical phases. For the 2D East model we find that this trajectory transition is of the first order, while for the SSEP we find indications of a second order transition. We then show how the PEPS can be used to implement a trajectory sampling scheme capable of directly accessing rare trajectories. We also discuss how the methods described here can be extended to study rare events at finite times.
Abstract We introduce a stochastic generalisation of the classical deterministic Floquet-East model, a discrete circuit with the same kinetic constraint as the East model of glasses. We prove exactly that, in the limit of long time and large size, this model has a large deviation phase transition between active and inactive dynamical phases. We also compute the finite time and size scaling of general space-time fluctuations, which for the case of inactive regions gives rise to dynamical hydrophobicity. We also discuss how, through the Trotter limit, these exact results also hold for the continuous-time East model, thus proving long-standing observations in kinetically constrained models. Our results here illustrate the applicability of exact tensor network methods for solving problems in many-body stochastic systems.
Coexistence of different dynamical phases is a hallmark of glassy dynamics. This is well-studied in classical systems where the underlying theoretical framework is that of large deviation theory. The presence of a similar phase coexistence has been suggested in monitored quantum many-body systems, but the lack of suitable methods has yet prevented a systematic large deviation analysis. Here we present a tensor network framework that allows the application of large deviation theory to large quantum systems. Building on this, we locate a series of first-order dynamical phase transitions in a monitored discrete-time many-body quantum dynamics, at the level of the trajectory space. Crucially, our approach provides access not only to large-deviation statistics but also to conditioned quantum many-body states, enabling a microscopic characterization of the dynamical phases and their coexistence.
We study in detail the properties of the quantum East model, an interacting quantum spin chain inspired by simple kinetically constrained models of classical glasses.Through a combination of analytics, exact diagonalization, and tensor-network methods, we show the existence of a transition, from a fast to a slow thermalization regime, which manifests itself throughout the spectrum.On the slow side, by exploiting the localization of the ground state and the form of the Hamiltonian, we explicitly construct a large (exponential in size) number of nonthermal states that become exact finite-energy-density eigenstates in the large size limit, as expected for a true phase transition.A "superspin" generalization allows us to find a further large class of area-law states proved to display very slow relaxation.These states retain memory of their initial conditions for extremely long times.Our numerical analysis reveals that the localization properties are not limited to the ground state and that many eigenstates have large overlap with product states and can be approximated well by matrix product states at arbitrary energy densities.The mechanism that induces localization to the ground state, and hence the nonthermal behavior of the system, can be extended to a wide range of models including a number of simple spin chains.We discuss implications of our results for slow thermalization and nonergodicity more generally in disorder-free systems with constraints, and we give numerical evidence that these results may be extended to two-dimensional systems.
We study in detail the properties of the quantum East model, an interacting quantum spin chain inspired by simple kinetically-constrained models of classical glasses. Through a combination of analytics, exact diagonalization and tensor-network methods we show the existence of a transition, from a fast to a slow thermalization regime, which manifests itself throughout the spectrum. On the slow side, by exploiting the localization of the ground state and the form of the Hamiltonian, we explicitly construct a large (exponential in size) number of non-thermal states which become exact finite-energy-density eigenstates in the large-size limit, as expected for a true phase transition. A ``super-spin'' generalization allows us to find a further large class of area-law states proved to display very slow relaxation. These states retain memory of their initial conditions for extremely long times. Our numerical analysis reveals that the localization properties are not limited to the ground state and that} many eigenstates have large overlap with product states and can be approximated well by matrix product states at arbitrary energy densities. The mechanism that induces localization to the ground state, and hence the non-thermal behavior of the system, can be extended to a wide range of models including a number of simple spin chains. We discuss implications of our results for slow thermalization and non-ergodicity more generally in disorder-free systems with constraints and we give numerical evidence that these results may be extended to two dimensional systems.