Non-equilibrium properties of strongly interacting gauge theories are often intractable with classical simulation methods. Due to recent developments of quantum simulations, studies of their properties in two spatial dimensions are becoming accessible. By demonstrating the existence of an approximate spectrum-generating algebra for a pure gauge plaquette ladder, we predict and verify the existence of Quantum Many-Body Scars in spin-1 Quantum Link Models. The analysis of the model is facilitated by a dualization process that maps the original gauge theory to a constrained spin chain. Was it not for the constraint, the system would have an exact spectrum-generating algebra. We propose a set of observables for diagnosing an approximate spectrum-generating algebra, which is expected to guide quantum simulators toward interesting physical regimes.
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Proceedings of the 42nd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE2025)
Non-equilibrium properties of strongly interacting gauge theories are often intractable with classical simulation methods. Due to recent developments of quantum simulations, studies of their properties in two spatial dimensions are becoming accessible. By demonstrating the existence of an approximate spectrum-generating algebra for a pure gauge plaquette ladder, we predict and verify the existence of Quantum Many-Body Scars in spin-1 Quantum Link Models. The analysis of the model is facilitated by a dualization process that maps the original gauge theory to a constrained spin chain. Was it not for the constraint, the system would have an exact spectrum-generating algebra. We propose a set of observables for diagnosing an approximate spectrum-generating algebra, which is expected to guide quantum simulators toward interesting physical regimes.
Non-equilibrium properties of strongly interacting gauge theories are often intractable with classical simulation methods. Due to recent developments of quantum simulations, studies of their properties in two spatial dimensions are becoming accessible. By demonstrating the existence of an approximate spectrum-generating algebra for a pure gauge plaquette ladder, we predict and verify the existence of Quantum Many-Body Scars in spin-1 Quantum Link Models. The analysis of the model is facilitated by a dualization process that maps the original gauge theory to a constrained spin chain. Was it not for the constraint, the system would have an exact spectrum-generating algebra. We propose a set of observables for diagnosing an approximate spectrum-generating algebra, which is expected to guide quantum simulators toward interesting physical regimes.
We consider the spectrum of a U(1) quantum link model where gauge fields are realized as S=1/2 quantum spins and demonstrate a new mechanism for generating quantum many-body scars (high-energy eigenstates that violate the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis) in a constrained Hilbert space. Many-body dynamics with local constraints has attracted much attention due to the recent discovery of non-ergodic behavior in quantum simulators based on Rydberg atoms. Lattice gauge theories provide natural examples of constrained systems since physical states must be gauge-invariant. In our case, the Hamiltonian H=Okin+λOpot, where Opot (Okin) is diagonal (off-diagonal) in the electric flux basis, contains exact mid-spectrum zero modes at λ=0 whose number grows exponentially with system size. This massive degeneracy is lifted at any non-zero λ but some special linear combinations that simultaneously diagonalize Okin and Opot survive as quantum many-body scars, suggesting an order-by-disorder mechanism in the Hilbert space. We give evidence for such scars and show their dynamical consequences on ladders with up to 56 spins, which may be tested using available proposals of quantum simulators.
The existence of quantum many-body scars, which prevents thermalization from certain initial states after a long time, has been established across different quantum many-body systems. These include gauge theories corresponding to spin- 1 / 2 quantum link models. Establishing quantum scars in gauge theories with high spin is not accessible with existing numerical methods, which rely on exact diagonalization. We systematically identify scars for pure gauge theories with arbitrarily large integer spin S in 2 + 1 D , where the electric field is restricted to 2 S + 1 states per link. Through an explicit analytic construction, we show that the presence of scars is widespread in 2 + 1 D gauge theories for arbitrary integer spin. We confirm these findings numerically for small truncated spin and S = 1 quantum link models. Our analytic construction establishes the presence of scars far beyond volumes and spins that can be probed with existing numerical methods and can guide quantum simulation experiments toward interesting nonequilibrium phenomena, inaccessible otherwise. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We consider the spectrum of a U(1) quantum link model where gauge fields are realized as S=1/2 spins and demonstrate a new mechanism for generating quantum many-body scars (high-energy eigenstates that violate the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis) in a constrained Hilbert space. Many-body dynamics with local constraints has attracted much attention due to the recent discovery of nonergodic behavior in quantum simulators based on Rydberg atoms. Lattice gauge theories provide natural examples of constrained systems since physical states must be gauge invariant. In our case, the Hamiltonian H=O_{kin}+λO_{pot}, where O_{pot} (O_{kin}) is diagonal (off-diagonal) in the electric flux basis, contains exact midspectrum zero modes at λ=0 whose number grows exponentially with system size. This massive degeneracy is lifted at any nonzero λ but some special linear combinations that simultaneously diagonalize O_{kin} and O_{pot} survive as quantum many-body scars, suggesting an "order-by-disorder" mechanism in the Hilbert space. We give evidence for such scars and show their dynamical consequences on two-leg ladders with up to 56 spins, which may be tested using available proposals of quantum simulators. Results on wider ladders point towards their presence in two dimensions as well.
Quantum many-body scarring (QMBS) has emerged as an intriguing paradigm of weak ergodicity breaking in nonintegrable quantum many-body models, particularly lattice gauge theories (LGTs) in 1 + 1 spacetime dimensions. However, an open question is whether QMBS has a true high-energy physics origin, and thus exists in higher-dimensional LGTs with dynamical matter. Given that nonergodic dynamics in d = 1 spatial dimension tend to vanish in d > 1 , it is important to probe this question. Using matrix product state techniques for both finite and infinite systems, we show that QMBS occurs in the 2 + 1 D U ( 1 ) quantum link model, as evidenced in persistent coherent oscillations in local observables, a marked slowdown in the growth of the bipartite entanglement entropy, and revivals in the fidelity. Interestingly, we see that QMBS is more robust when the matter degrees of freedom are bosonic rather than fermionic, which we argue is due to the strong nonlocality of the wave function in the latter case. Our results further shed light on the intimate connection between gauge symmetry and QMBS, and highlight the persistence of scarring in higher spatial dimensions. Our findings can be tested in near-term analog and digital quantum simulators, and we demonstrate their accessibility on a recently proposed cold-atom analog quantum simulator.
In the last decade the non-equilibrium dynamics of isolated quantum systems has raised a huge interest for both its conceptual and practical implications. Simulation of quantum dynamics represents by now a very active research effort, with highly controllable quantum devices composed of hundreds of qubits already being realized in numerous setups. These offer the unprecedented possibility to access real-time quantum dynamics and strongly correlated quantum many-body states, opening numerous avenues not only for future quantum technologies, but also for long-standing theoretical problems. One of the most sought-after applications is the computation of real-time evolution in theories of fundamental interactions. Since Wilson's proposal in 1974, the equilibrium phase diagrams of lattice gauge theories have been successfully investigated with Monte Carlo simulations in a wide range of parameters. Nonequilibrium properties, on the other hand, cannot be accessed with conventional techniques. Thanks to the recent advances in numerics (e.g. tensor networks) and experiments (quantum simulation), new promising tools are now available for tackling these questions. Remarkable works have already demonstrated that applying these techniques to simple theories, such as one-dimensional quantum electrodynamics, can help to detect the signatures of confinement and pair creation. Despite these impressive achievements, investigating the non-equilibrium dynamics of gauge theories with quantum simulators turned out to be extremely challenging. This is mostly due to the complex constrained dynamics of these theories, which make their simulation with realistic atomic platforms particularly difficult. At the same time, the dynamical constraints can play a key role in determining novel interesting phenomena and peculiar non-equilibrium properties. These phenomena -- which include, for example, quantum scars, fractons, Hilbert space fragmentation -- can lead to anomalous dynamics, eventually evading the paradigm of thermalization, which predicts the relaxation of physical observable to their thermodynamic values. The aim of this thesis is twofold: first, we want to address through a combination of numerical and analytical tools some of the open questions regarding the non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems with constrained Hilbert spaces, including lattice gauge theories. In addition, the work reported here is part of a large effort of the community towards the quantum simulation of complex phenomena of condensed matter and high-energy physics.