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arXiv:2407.11110 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Subdiffusive transport in the Fredkin dynamical universality class

Catherine McCarthy, Hansveer Singh, Sarang Gopalakrishnan, Romain Vasseur

Published May 22, 2025• 6 citations
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Abstract

Fredkin-type kinetic constraints appear in systems ranging from classical interfaces to th e Fredkin and Motzkin quantum spin chains. Here, we identify a pseudolocal conserved charge associated with Fredkin-constrained dynamics that may be leveraged to subdiffusively bound the dynamical exponent $z\ensuremath{\ge}5/2$. Our results establish that transport in Fredkin-constrained systems belongs to a distinct dynamical universality class that is separate from ordinary diffusion. This universality class is stable to local perturbations that conserve the pseudolocal charge.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.111.184317

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Fredkin-type kinetic constraints appear in systems ranging from classical interfaces to th e Fredkin and Motzkin quantum spin chains. Here, we identify a pseudolocal conserved charge associated with Fredkin-constrained dynamics that may be leveraged to subdiffusively bound the dynamical exponent z\ensuremath≥5/2z\ensuremath{\ge}5/2z\ensuremath≥5/2. Our results establish that transport in Fredkin-constrained systems belongs to a distinct dynamical universality class that is separate from ordinary diffusion. This universality class is stable to local perturbations that conserve the pseudolocal charge.
We investigate the spectral and transport properties of many-body quantum systems with conserved charges and kinetic constraints. Using random unitary circuits, we compute ensemble-averaged spectral form factors and linear-response correlation functions, and find that their characteristic timescales are given by the inverse gap of an effective Hamiltonian-or equivalently, a transfer matrix describing a classical Markov process. Our approach allows us to connect directly the Thouless time, t_{Th}, determined by the spectral form factor, to transport properties and linear-response correlators. Using tensor network methods, we determine the dynamical exponent z for a number of constrained, conserving models. We find universality classes with diffusive, subdiffusive, quasilocalized, and localized dynamics, depending on the severity of the constraints. In particular, we show that quantum systems with "Fredkin" constraints exhibit anomalous transport with dynamical exponent z≃8/3.
Conservation laws and the associated hydrodynamic modes have important consequences on the growth of higher R\'enyi entropies in isolated quantum systems. It has been shown in various random unitary circuits and Hamiltonian systems that the dynamics of the R\'enyi entropies in the presence of a U(1) symmetry obey ${S}^{(n\ensuremath{\ge}2)}(t)\ensuremath{\propto}{t}^{1/z}$, where zzz is identified as the dynamical exponent characterizing transport of the conserved charges. Here, however, we demonstrate that this simple identification may not hold in certain quantum systems with kinetic constraints. In particular, we study two types of U(1)-symmetric quantum automaton circuits with XNOR (exclusive NOR) and Fredkin constraints, respectively. We find numerically that while spin transport in both models is subdiffusive, the second R\'enyi entropy grows diffusively in the XNOR model, and superdiffusively in the Fredkin model. For systems with the XNOR constraint, this distinction arises since the spin correlation function can be attributed to an emergent tracer dynamics of tagged particles, whereas the R\'enyi entropies are constrained by collective transport of the particles. Our results suggest that care must be taken when relating transport and entanglement entropy dynamics in generic quantum systems with conservation laws.
We show how the tracer motion of tagged, distinguishable particles can effectively describe transport in various homogeneous quantum many-body systems with constraints. We consider systems of spinful particles on a one-dimensional lattice subjected to constrained spin interactions, such that some or even all multipole moments of the effective spin pattern formed by the particles are conserved. On the one hand, when all moments---and thus the entire spin pattern---are conserved, dynamical spin correlations reduce to tracer motion identically, generically yielding a subdiffusive dynamical exponent z=4z=4z=4. This provides a common framework to understand the dynamics of several constrained lattice models, including models with XNOR or tJzt{J}_{z}tJz​ constraints. We consider random unitary circuit dynamics with such a conserved spin pattern and use the tracer picture to obtain asymptotically exact expressions for their late-time dynamical correlations. Our results can also be extended to integrable quantum many-body systems that feature a conserved spin pattern but whose dynamics is insensitive to the pattern, which includes for example the folded XXZ spin chain. On the other hand, when only a finite number of moments of the pattern are conserved, the dynamics is described by a convolution of the internal hydrodynamics of the spin pattern with a tracer distribution function. As a consequence, we find that the tracer universality is robust in generic systems if at least three multipole moments of the spin pattern (its total charge, dipole moment and quadrupole moment) remain conserved. In cases where only total magnetization and dipole moment of the pattern are constant, we uncover an intriguing coexistence of two processes with an equal dynamical exponent but different scaling functions, which we relate to phase coexistence at a first-order transition.
Understanding the non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems remains one of the grand challenges of modern physics. In particular, increasing attention has been devoted to the emergence of non-equilibrium universality classes that have no equilibrium counterparts. A prominent example is the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class realized in dissipative Bose-Einstein condensates. In this Letter, motivated by recent experimental advances, we investigate the universal dynamics of dissipative quantum systems with dipole moment conservation. We develop an effective field theory description, supported by a concrete quantum spin model, to capture the resulting universal behaviors. Our analysis unveils a novel strongly interacting non-equilibrium fixed point that governs the equal-time phase fluctuations in systems with either strong or weak dipole symmetries. Moreover, charge transport becomes subdiffusive in the presence of strong dipole symmetry, while it remains diffusive in the weakly symmetric case. Our results reveal the intricate interplay between kinetic constraints and dissipation in quantum many-body systems.
We introduce new classes of hydrodynamic theories inspired by the recently discovered fracton phases of quantum matter.Fracton phases are characterized by elementary excitations (fractons) with restricted mobility.The hydrodynamic theories we introduce describe thermalization in systems with fractonlike mobility constraints, including fluids where charge and dipole moment are both locally conserved, and fluids where charge is conserved along every line or plane of a lattice.Each of these fluids is subdiffusive and constitutes a new universality class of hydrodynamic behavior.There are infinitely many such classes, each with distinct subdiffusive exponents, all of which are captured by our formalism.Our framework naturally explains recent results on dynamics with constrained quantum circuits, as well as recent experiments with ultracold atoms in tilted optical lattices.We identify crisp experimental signatures of these novel hydrodynamics and explain how they may be realized in near term ultracold atom experiments.
The dynamical behavior of a quantum many-particle system is characterized by the lifetime of its excitations. When the system is perturbed, observables of any nonconserved quantity decay exponentially, but those of a conserved quantity relax to equilibrium with a power law. Such processes are associated with a dynamical exponent zzz that relates the spread of correlations in space and time. We present numerical results for the Fredkin model, a quantum spin chain with a three-body interaction term, which exhibits an unusually large dynamical exponent. We discuss our efforts to produce a reliable estimate $z\ensuremath{\doteq}3.16(1)$ through direct simulation of the quantum evolution and to explain the slow dynamics in terms of an excited bond that executes a constrained random walk in Monte Carlo time.