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arXiv:2607.08589

Universality of Measurement-Induced Criticality under Symmetry-Breaking Measurements

Angelo Russotto, Filiberto Ares, Pasquale Calabrese

cond-mat.stat-mechquant-phSubmitted Jul 9, 2026• Announced Jul 10, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Jul 22, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Jul 9, 2026v2 · Jul 22, 2026
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Abstract

We study the critical properties of random quantum circuits with a $U(1)$ symmetry subject to local projective measurements that explicitly break this symmetry. We find that, at the measurement-induced phase transition, symmetry-breaking measurements act as a relevant perturbation at large scales, leading to the same universal critical properties as the corresponding monitored random circuit with non-symmetric unitary dynamics. In particular, we consider monitored $U(1)$-symmetric Haar-random circuits in the limit of large local Hilbert-space dimension, where the trajectory-averaged entanglement entropy can be exactly obtained in terms of a classical statistical mechanics model. In this model, the charge associated with the conservation law follows a symmetric simple exclusion process, in which symmetry-breaking measurements correspond to disordered defects that create and destroy charges. We prove that the charge correlation length remains finite for any measurement rate, ruling out a charge-sharpening transition, in contrast to the case of symmetry-preserving measurements. We further support our predictions at finite local Hilbert-space dimension through numerical finite-size scaling analyses of the entanglement transition in monitored $U(1)$-symmetric Haar and stabilizer random circuits.

Comments
36 pages, 10 figures

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We study the critical properties of random quantum circuits with a U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetry subject to local projective measurements that explicitly break this symmetry. We find that, at the measurement-induced phase transition, symmetry-breaking measurements act as a relevant perturbation at large scales, leading to the same universal critical properties as the corresponding monitored random circuit with non-symmetric unitary dynamics. In particular, we consider monitored U(1)U(1)U(1)-symmetric Haar-random circuits in the limit of large local Hilbert-space dimension, where the trajectory-averaged entanglement entropy can be exactly obtained in terms of a classical statistical mechanics model. In this model, the charge associated with the conservation law follows a symmetric simple exclusion process, in which symmetry-breaking measurements correspond to disordered defects that create and destroy charges. We prove that the charge correlation length remains finite for any measurement rate, ruling out a charge-sharpening transition, in contrast to the case of symmetry-preserving measurements. We further support our predictions at finite local Hilbert-space dimension through numerical finite-size scaling analyses of the entanglement transition in monitored U(1)U(1)U(1)-symmetric Haar and stabilizer random circuits.
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We study critical properties of the entanglement and charge-sharpening measurement-induced phase transitions in a nonunitary quantum circuit evolving with a U(1) conserved charge. Our numerical estimation of the critical properties of the entanglement transition at finite system sizes appears distinct from the generic nonconserving case and percolation. We provide two possible interpretations of this observation: (a) these two transitions occur at different measurement rates in the thermodynamic limit, but at finite system sizes their critical fans overlap and the critical exponents we probed here show a combination of both criticalities. Nonetheless, the multifractal properties of the entanglement transition remain distinct from the generic case without any symmetry, indicating a unique universality class due to the U(1) symmetry. (b) These two transitions occur at the same measurement rate at any lengthscale. Within this interpretation, our estimation of all the critical exponents is sharply different from the nonconserving case, again confirming the presence of a new universality class due to U(1) symmetry. We compute entanglement critical exponents and correlation functions via various ancilla measures, we use a transfer matrix for multifractality, and we compute correlators associated with charge sharpening to explain these findings. Through these correlators, we also find evidence consistent with the charge-sharpening transition being of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type (including the predicted ``jump'' in stiffness), which simultaneously argues for a broad critical fan for this transition. As a result, attempts to measure critical properties in this finite-size system will see anomalously large exponents predicted by our numerical analysis.
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Random quantum circuits provide a framework for probing universal dynamical phenomena in chaotic quantum many-body systems, by circumventing the microscopic details of Hamiltonian evolution. Bipartite entanglement measures can be used to characterize the dynamical phases that emerge in these systems. Typically, under random unitary evolution, bipartite entanglement entropies exhibit a linear growth, and attain steady-state values that scale extensively with the system volume. However, when local projective measurements are introduced, a suppression of steady-state bipartite entropies occurs, leading to a sub-extensive scaling with the system volume. This class of entanglement scaling transitions, from an extensive to a sub-extensive scaling regime, has sparked interest in a broader class of measurement-induced phase transitions, with a potential to further our understanding of fault-tolerance in quantum computing, and in realizing synthetic quantum phases on digital quantum simulators. In this work, we characterize entanglement scaling transitions in one-dimensional random quantum circuits composed of q-level systems, with the local Hilbert space dimension q ≥ 2. This predominantly numerical study employs generalizations of the stabilizer formalism and the Clifford group to higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces to simulate the measurement-induced transitions. We find that the nature of the entanglement scaling transition remains invariant under changes in the local Hilbert space dimension. However, the critical measurement rate inducing the transition increases with q, asymptotically approaching 1/2 in the limit q → ∞. To further explore this classical limit, we develop a minimal dynamical model that captures entanglement structures under unitary evolution. We analyze the entanglement structures in thermal stabilizer states using this model, and propose an approach for incorporating measurements within this framework.
Conservation laws reshape quantum information dynamics by restricting how scrambling can occur. In monitored circuits, this raises a natural dynamical question: when a symmetry constraint is gradually relaxed, how quickly do the entanglement dynamics forget the symmetric regime? We address this question in one-dimensional monitored random circuits by driving the two-qubit gate ensemble from exact U(1) conservation toward unconstrained Haar dynamics. The response is not instantaneous: the entanglement retains a finite-depth memory of the conserving dynamics and crosses over toward the unconstrained behavior over a rate-dependent time window. Operational 25%, 50%, and 75% crossover times all move to later circuit depths for slower drives. At p=0.4, the same rate ordering is also observed through L=32 in a finite-time matrix-product-state consistency check with a limited trajectory ensemble. By contrast, the weak fixed perturbations studied here, ϵ(t)=ϵ0≤0.1, remain close to the conserving reference over the same finite observation window. Within this finite-time window, the driven crossover is therefore not reproduced merely by waiting under the fixed perturbations tested. Purification dynamics from a maximally mixed state exhibit the same qualitative response. We therefore interpret the results as a finite-time dynamical crossover from symmetry-constrained dynamics toward less constrained scrambling, rather than as evidence for a universal crossover exponent or a microscopic noise law. The study provides a controlled setting for asking how long symmetry-dependent information-processing behavior persists as a conservation law is deliberately weakened.