We present a theoretical study of the survival probability of a state initially prepared in the one-particle sector of a multi-qubit system. The motivation for our work is the ongoing laboratory development of multi-qubit platforms based on superconducting circuits. Using elementary concepts of random matrix theory, we obtain analytic expressions for the survival probability in mathematical models of platforms which, albeit stylized, have been previously shown to provide relevant benchmarks for experimental data. In particular, we show that the decay properties are sensitive to the property of the Hamilton operator to have extended states. The survival probability does not appear instead to depend on whether the interaction between qubits is described by a Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (often interpreted as a model of ''chaotic'' dynamics) or is modeled by an analytically solvable chain. We interpret this phenomenon as a manifestation of a general mechanism for the emergence of equilibration in purely unitary dynamics. Finally, under the same hypothesis of an initial preparation with projection on a large fraction of the extended eigenstates of the Hamilton operator, we show how to extend the classical Kac-Mazur-Montroll estimate of the return time to the quantum survival probability.
Journal reference
Journal of Statistical Physics Volume 193, article number 159 (2026)
We present a theoretical study of the survival probability of a state initially prepared in the one-particle sector of a multi-qubit system. The motivation for our work is the ongoing laboratory development of multi-qubit platforms based on superconducting circuits. Using elementary concepts of random matrix theory, we obtain analytic expressions for the survival probability in mathematical models of platforms which, albeit stylized, have been previously shown to provide relevant benchmarks for experimental data. In particular, we show that the decay properties are sensitive to the property of the Hamilton operator to have extended states. The survival probability does not appear instead to depend on whether the interaction between qubits is described by a Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (often interpreted as a model of ''chaotic'' dynamics) or is modeled by an analytically solvable chain. We interpret this phenomenon as a manifestation of a general mechanism for the emergence of equilibration in purely unitary dynamics. Finally, under the same hypothesis of an initial preparation with projection on a large fraction of the extended eigenstates of the Hamilton operator, we show how to extend the classical Kac-Mazur-Montroll estimate of the return time to the quantum survival probability.
"In this work we provide an overview of our recent results about the quench dynamics of one-dimensional many-body quantum systems described by spin-1/2 models. To illustrate those general results, here we employ a particular and experimentally accessible initial state, namely the Neel state. Both cases are considered: clean chains with- ´ out any disorder and disordered systems with static random on-site magnetic fields. The quantity used for the analysis is the probability for finding the initial state later in time, the so-called survival probability. At short times, the survival probability may decay faster than exponentially, Gaussian behaviors and even the limit established by the energy-time uncertainty relation are displayed. The dynamics at long times slows down significantly and shows a powerlaw behavior. For both scenarios, we provide analytical expressions that agree very well with our numerical results."
Abstract What happens when a quantum system undergoing unitary evolution in time is subject to repeated projective measurements to the initial state at random times? A question of general interest is: how does the survival probability S m , namely, the probability that an initial state survives even after m number of measurements, behave as a function of m ? We address these issues in the context of two paradigmatic quantum systems, one, the quantum random walk evolving in discrete time, and the other, the tight-binding model evolving in continuous time, with both defined on a one-dimensional periodic lattice with a finite number of sites N . For these two models, we present several numerical and analytical results that hint at the curious nature of quantum measurement dynamics. In particular, we unveil that when evolution after every projective measurement continues with the projected component of the instantaneous state, the average and the typical survival probability decay as an exponential in m for large m . By contrast, if the evolution continues with the leftover component, namely, what remains of the instantaneous state after a measurement has been performed, the survival probability exhibits two characteristic m values, namely, m 1 ⋆ ( N ) ∼ N and m 2 ⋆ ( N ) ∼ N δ with δ > 1. These scales are such that (i) for m large and satisfying m < m 1 ⋆ ( N ) , the decay of the survival probability is as m −2 , (ii) for m satisfying m 1 ⋆ ( N ) ≪ m < m 2 ⋆ ( N ) , the decay is as m −3/2 , while (iii) for m ≫ m 2 ⋆ ( N ) , the decay is as an exponential. The results for the dynamics with the leftover component, already known for the case of measurements at regular intervals, are being extended here to the case of measurements at random intervals. We find that our results hold independently of the choice of the distribution of times between successive measurements, as have been corroborated by our resu
The isolated one-dimensional Heisenberg model with static random magnetic fields has become paradigmatic for the analysis of many-body localization. Here, we study the dynamics of this system initially prepared in a highly-excited nonstationary state. Our focus is on the probability for finding the initial state later in time, the so-called survival probability. Two distinct behaviors are identified before equilibration. At short times, the decay is very fast and equivalent to that of clean systems. It subsequently slows down and develops a power-law behavior with an exponent that coincides with the multifractal dimension of the eigenstates.
Abstract We consider time-dependent relaxation of observables in quantum systems of chaotic and regular type. Using statistical arguments and exact numerical solutions we show that the spread of the initial wave function in the Hilbert space and the main characteristics of evolution of observables have certain generic features. The study compares examples of regular dynamics, a completely chaotic case of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble, a bosonic system with random interactions, and a fully realistic case of the time evolution of various initial non-stationary states in the nuclear shell model. In the case of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble we show that the survival probability obtained analytically also fully defines the relaxation timescale of observables. This is not the case in general. Using the realistic nuclear shell model and the quadrupole moment as an observable we demonstrate that the relaxation time is significantly longer than defined by the survival probability of the initial state. The full analysis does not show the presence of an analog of the Lyapunov exponent characteristic for examples of classical chaos.
We study numerically and analytically the quench dynamics of isolated many-body quantum systems. Using full random matrices from the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble, we obtain analytical expressions for the evolution of the survival probability, density imbalance, and out-of-time-ordered correlator. They are compared with numerical results for a one-dimensional-disordered model with two-body interactions and shown to bound the decay rate of this realistic system. Power-law decays are seen at intermediate times, and dips below the infinite time averages (correlation holes) occur at long times for all three quantities when the system exhibits level repulsion. The fact that these features are shared by both the random matrix and the realistic disordered model indicates that they are generic to nonintegrable interacting quantum systems out of equilibrium. Assisted by the random matrix analytical results, we propose expressions that describe extremely well the dynamics of the realistic chaotic system at different time scales.
Quantum systems whose classical counterparts are chaotic typically have highly correlated eigenvalues and level statistics that coincide with those from ensembles of full random matrices. A dynamical manifestation of these correlations comes in the form of the so-called correlation hole, which is a dip below the saturation point of the survival probability's time evolution. In this work, we study the correlation hole in the spin-boson (Dicke) model, which presents a chaotic regime and can be realized in experiments with ultracold atoms and ion traps. We derive an analytical expression that describes the entire evolution of the survival probability and allows us to determine the time scales of its relaxation to equilibrium. This expression shows remarkable agreement with our numerical results. While the initial decay and the time to reach the minimum of the correlation hole depend on the initial state, the dynamics beyond the hole up to equilibration is universal. We find that the relaxation time of the survival probability for the Dicke model increases linearly with system size.