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arXiv:2603.09928

Intertwining Markov Processes via Matrix Product Operators

Rouven Frassek, Jan de Gier, Jimin Li, Frank Verstraete

math-phcond-mat.stat-mechnlin.SIquant-phSubmitted Mar 10, 2026• Announced Mar 11, 2026• 0 citations• Revised May 13, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Mar 10, 2026v2 · May 13, 2026
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Abstract

Duality transformations reveal unexpected equivalences between seemingly distinct models. We introduce an out-of-equilibrium generalisation of matrix product operators to implement duality transformations in one-dimensional boundary-driven Markov processes on lattices. In contrast to local dualities associated with generalised symmetries, here the duality operator intertwines two Markov processes via generalised exchange relations and realises the out-of-equilibrium duality globally. We construct these operators exactly for the symmetric simple exclusion process with distinct out-of-equilibrium boundaries. In this case, out-of-equilibrium boundaries are dual to equilibrium boundaries satisfying Liggett's condition, implying that the Gibbs-Boltzmann measure captures out-of-equilibrium physics when leveraging the duality operator. We illustrate this principle through physical applications.

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Duality transformations reveal unexpected equivalences between seemingly distinct models. We introduce an out-of-equilibrium generalisation of matrix product operators to implement duality transformations in one-dimensional boundary-driven Markov processes on lattices. In contrast to local dualities associated with generalised symmetries, here the duality operator intertwines two Markov processes via generalised exchange relations and realises the out-of-equilibrium duality globally. We construct these operators exactly for the symmetric simple exclusion process with distinct out-of-equilibrium boundaries. In this case, out-of-equilibrium boundaries are dual to equilibrium boundaries satisfying Liggett's condition, implying that the Gibbs-Boltzmann measure captures out-of-equilibrium physics when leveraging the duality operator. We illustrate this principle through physical applications.
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Matrix-product operators (MPOs) appear throughout the study of integrable lattice models, notably as the transfer matrices. They can also be used as transformations to construct dualities between such models, both invertible (including unitary) and non-invertible (including discrete gauging). We analyse how the local Yang--Baxter integrable structures are modified under such dualities. We see that the Rˇ\check{R}Rˇ-matrix, that appears in the baxterization approach to integrability, transforms in a simple manner. We further argue for a broad class of MPO dualities that the usual Yang--Baxter RRR-matrix should be extended. This extended RRR-matrix satisfies modified algebraic relations, including a modified Yang--Baxter algebra previously identified in the unitary case, that altogether give a local integrable structure underlying the commuting transfer matrices of the dual model. We illustrate these results with two case studies, analysing an invertible unitary MPO and a non-invertible MPO both applied to the canonical XXZ spin chain. The former is the cluster entangler, arising in the study of symmetry-protected topological phases, while the latter is the Kramers--Wannier duality. We show several results for MPOs with exact MPO inverses that are of independent interest.
It has been a long-standing open problem to construct a general framework for relating the spectra of dual theories to each other. Here, we solve this problem for the case of one-dimensional quantum lattice models with symmetry-twisted boundary conditions. In Ref. [PRX Quantum 4, 020357], dualities are defined between (categorically) symmetric models that only differ in a choice of module category. Using matrix product operators, we construct from the data of module functors explicit symmetry operators preserving boundary conditions as well as intertwiners mapping topological sectors of dual models onto one another. We illustrate our construction with a family of examples that are in the duality class of the spin- 12 Heisenberg XXZ model. One model has symmetry operators forming the fusion category Rep(S3) of representations of the group S3 . We find that the mapping between its topological sectors and those of the XXZ model is associated with the nontrivial braided autoequivalence of the Drinfel’d center of Rep(S3) . Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We study a one-parameter generalization of the symmetric simple exclusion process on a one-dimensional lattice. In addition to the usual dynamics (where particles can hop with equal rates to the left or to the right with an exclusion constraint), annihilation and creation of pairs can occur. The system is driven out of equilibrium by two reservoirs at the boundaries. In this setting the model is still integrable: it is related to the open XXZ spin chain through a gauge transformation. This allows us to compute the full spectrum of the Markov matrix using Bethe equations. We also show that the stationary state can be expressed in a matrix product form permitting to compute the multipoints correlation functions as well as the mean value of the lattice and the creation-annihilation currents. Finally, the variance of the lattice current is computed for a finite-size system. In the thermodynamic limit, it matches the value obtained from the associated macroscopic fluctuation theory.
The self-duality of the transverse-field Ising model is an archetype for dualities that, alongside symmetry and topology, are used as an organizing principle throughout modern physics. This duality, however, is not exact. The original and dual models have different symmetries and numbers of ground states, and the duality is implemented by a non-invertible operator giving rise to a non-invertible symmetry at the quantum critical point. Here, we show that by adjusting the model to accommodate open rather than periodic boundary conditions, it allows for an exact duality implemented by a unique invertible operator. In the model with exact duality, the symmetry at the quantum critical point is also exact, and hence invertible. Moreover, we find that the exact duality necessitates the presence of an anomalous edge degree of freedom, thus realizing a duality rather than topology based bulk-boundary correspondence. Finally, the exactness of the duality implies that the spontaneous breakdown of a global symmetry in terms of the original model can equivalently be described as spontaneously breaking a local symmetry in the dual system. We show that this seeming contradiction of Elitzur's theorem can be explained by the original and dual models obtaining different sensitivities to spatially local perturbations in any physical implementation of the Hamiltonian. Although the dual partners are mathematically equivalent, their physical implementations therefore are not. In analogy to the spontaneous breakdown of symmetries, we term this emergent distinction due to arbitrarily small environmental influences spontaneous duality breaking.