We consider a broad class of strongly interacting quantum lattice gases, including the Fermi-Hubbard and Bose-Hubbard models. We focus on macroscopic particle clusters of size θN, with θ∈(0,1) and N the total particle number, and we study the quantum probability that such a cluster is transported across a distance r within time t. Conventional effective light cone arguments yield a bound of the form exp(vt-r). We report a substantially stronger bound exp[θN(vt-r)], which provides exponential suppression that scales with system size. Our result establishes a universal dynamical large deviation principle: macroscopic suppression of supersonic macroscopic transport (MASSMAT).
We consider a broad class of strongly interacting quantum lattice gases, including the Fermi-Hubbard and Bose-Hubbard models. We focus on macroscopic particle clusters of size θN, with θ∈(0,1) and N the total particle number, and we study the quantum probability that such a cluster is transported across a distance r within time t. Conventional effective light cone arguments yield a bound of the form exp(vt-r). We report a substantially stronger bound exp[θN(vt-r)], which provides exponential suppression that scales with system size. Our result establishes a universal dynamical large deviation principle: macroscopic suppression of supersonic macroscopic transport (MASSMAT).
Understanding the ultimate rate at which information propagates is a pivotal issue in nonequilibrium physics. Nevertheless, the task of elucidating the propagation speed inherent in quantum bosonic systems presents challenges due to the unbounded nature of their interactions. In this study, we tackle the problem of macroscopic particle transport in a long-range generalization of the lattice Bose-Hubbard model through the lens of the quantum speed limit. By developing a unified approach based on optimal transport theory, we rigorously prove that the minimum time required for macroscopic particle transport is always bounded by the distance between the source and target regions, while retaining its significance even in the thermodynamic limit. Furthermore, we derive an upper bound for the probability of observing a specific number of bosons inside the target region, thereby providing additional insights into the dynamics of particle transport. Our results hold true for arbitrary initial states under both long-range hopping and long-range interactions, thus resolving an open problem of particle transport in generic bosonic systems.
The Lieb-Robinson bound asserts the existence of a maximal propagation speed for the quantum dynamics of lattice spin systems. Such general bounds are not available for most bosonic lattice gases due to their unbounded local interactions. Here we establish for the first time a general ballistic upper bound on macroscopic particle transport in the paradigmatic Bose-Hubbard model. The bound is the first to cover a broad class of initial states with positive density including Mott states, which resolves a longstanding open problem. It applies to Bose-Hubbard-type models on any lattice with not too long-ranged hopping. The proof is rigorous and rests on controlling the time evolution of a new kind of adiabatic spacetime localization observable via iterative differential inequalities.
We study bulk particle transport in a Fermi-Hubbard model on an infinite-dimensional Bethe lattice, driven by a constant electric field. Previous numerical studies showed that one dimensional analogs of this system exhibit a breakdown of diffusion due to Stark many-body localization at least up to time that scales exponentially with the system size. Here, we consider systems initially in a spin density wave state using a combination of numerically exact and approximate techniques. We show that for sufficiently weak electric fields, the wave's momentum component decays exponentially with time in a way consistent with normal diffusion. By studying different wavelengths, we extract the dynamical exponent and the generalized diffusion coefficient at each field strength. Interestingly, we find a nonmonotonic dependence of the dynamical exponent on the electric field. As the field increases toward a critical value proportional to the Hubbard interaction strength, transport slows down, becoming subdiffusive. At large interaction strengths, however, transport speeds up again with increasing field, exhibiting superdiffusive characteristics when the electric field is comparable to the interaction strength. Eventually, at the large field limit, localization occurs and the current through the system is suppressed.
Quantum degenerate gases trapped in optical lattices are ideal test beds for fundamental physics because these systems are tunable, well characterized, and isolated from the environment. Controlled disorder can be introduced to explore suppression of quantum diffusion in the absence of conventional dephasing mechanisms such as phonons, which are unavoidable in experiments on electronic solids. Recent experiments use transport of degenerate Fermi gases in optical lattices [S. S. Kondov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 083002 (2015)] to probe extreme regimes. These experiments find evidence for an intriguing insulating phase where quantum diffusion is completely suppressed by strong disorder. Quantitative interpretation of these experiments remains an open problem that requires inclusion of nonzero entropy, strong interaction, and trapping in an Anderson-Hubbard model. We argue that the suppression of transport can be thought of as localization of Hubbard-band quasiparticles. We construct a theory of dynamics of Hubbard-band quasiparticles tailored to trapped optical lattice experiments. We compare the theory directly with center-of-mass transport experiments of Kondov et al. with no fitting parameters. The close agreement between theory and experiments shows that the suppression of transport is only partly due to finite-entropy effects. We argue that the complete suppression of transport is consistent with short-time, finite-size precursors of Anderson localization of Hubbard-band quasiparticles. The combination of our theoretical framework and optical lattice experiments offers an important platform for studying localization in isolated many-body quantum systems.
Particle statistics impose fundamental constraints on nonequilibrium quantum dynamics, yet it remains an open question whether anyonic statistics can lead to emergent dynamical scaling beyond the conventional Bose-Fermi paradigm. Here we investigate the far-from-equilibrium many-body relaxation of anyons in a one-dimensional lattice, uncovering a statistics-governed, robust scaling behavior that deviates from standard Bose-Fermi limits. Based on large-scale numerical simulations and scaling analysis, we find that in the weakly interacting regime, anyonic statistics leads to emergent superdiffusive scaling in particle transport, while the entanglement entropy remains ballistic and is essentially insensitive to exchange statistics. The anomalous dynamics can be interpreted intuitively from the statistical-phase-induced quantum interference that suppresses coherent holon-doublon propagation; in contrast, the entanglement growth is dominated by its configurational component, which maintains ballistic spreading regardless of the statistical phase. Our results establish anyonic statistics as a distinct source of universal nonequilibrium dynamics beyond bosons and fermions, with direct relevance to current quantum simulation experiments.
Sufficiently strong intersite interactions in extended-Hubbard and XXZ spin models result in dynamically bound clusters at neighboring sites. We show that the dynamics of these clusters in two-dimensional lattices is remarkably different and richer than that of repulsively bound on-site clusters in gases without intersite interactions. Whereas on-site pairs move in the same lattice as individual particles, nearest-neighbor dimers perform an interacting quantum walk in a different lattice geometry, leading to a peculiar dynamics characterized by multiple timescales. Although this is generally true, it is especially relevant in some lattices, including triangular and diamond lattices for hard-core bosons, and square lattices for soft-core bosons, where dimers move resonantly in either a kagome or a Lieb lattice. As a result, dimers show two very different transport velocities---a fast one comparable to the motion of individual particles, and a very slow one associated to flatband quasilocalization. Moreover, these lattices permit the resonant motion of longer clusters, and, remarkably, trimers move faster than quasi-flatband dimers for sufficiently strong optical lattices. This rich interplay between multiscaled quantum walk dynamics, quasilocalization, and flatband physics may be readily observed in experiments with lanthanide atoms.