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arXiv:2609.39802

Double Localization for Quantum Gibbs Sampler Gaps: From an Abstract Framework to Finite-Group Models

Ryu Hayakawa, Angus Southwell, Caesnan M. G. Leditto, Kuo-Chin Chen, Min-Hsiu Hsieh

quant-phSubmitted Sep 30, 2026• Announced Oct 1, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We introduce double localization, a framework for proving spectral gaps of quantum Gibbs samplers through two complementary operations: geometric localization, which selects updates supported in small spatial regions, and interface localization, which focuses on a model-defined subspace of observables while remaining geometrically global. Our abstract gap theorem combines a global bound on this subspace, called the interface, with local quantum gap estimates under quantitative coupling and geometric assembly conditions. The resulting explicit lower bound controls the gap of the full dynamics without requiring the interface to be invariant under the generator. This separation allows global estimates, including classical comparison, to be combined with local control of the remaining quantum directions. We apply the framework to Hamiltonians built from the vertex terms of Kitaev's finite-group quantum double construction, without plaquette terms, on finite simple three-regular graphs of girth at least six. For the specified local Davies dynamics, we prove an unconditional spectral-gap lower bound by a positive constant independent of graph size for every fixed nontrivial finite group and each fixed inverse temperature $β$ with $0\leβJ<\log(5/3)$, where $J>0$ is the coupling strength. For the smallest non-Abelian group $S_3$, double localization yields a positive lower bound uniform in both graph size and the entire interval $0\leβJ\le\log 3$, providing a guarantee that does not follow directly from existing results. This demonstrates how model-specific finite calculations can extend spectral-gap guarantees for the full quantum dynamics.

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76 pages

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We introduce double localization, a framework for proving spectral gaps of quantum Gibbs samplers through two complementary operations: geometric localization, which selects updates supported in small spatial regions, and interface localization, which focuses on a model-defined subspace of observables while remaining geometrically global. Our abstract gap theorem combines a global bound on this subspace, called the interface, with local quantum gap estimates under quantitative coupling and geometric assembly conditions. The resulting explicit lower bound controls the gap of the full dynamics without requiring the interface to be invariant under the generator. This separation allows global estimates, including classical comparison, to be combined with local control of the remaining quantum directions.
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Preparing Gibbs states through dissipative dynamics requires controlling convergence for the chosen Hamiltonian HHH and coupling operators. However, efficient implementation requires convergence guarantees from the spectral gap of the generator of the dynamics, which remains a crucial challenge. Recent results address the challenge by restricting the dynamics with structural assumptions about the Hamiltonian and its interactions. For the Chen-Kastoryano-Gilyen (CKG) construction and arbitrary finite-dimensional Hamiltonians, we prove an explicit comparison that converts a spectral gap estimate for the infinite-temperature generator into a lower bound on the spectral gap of the CKG quantum Gibbs sampler at every finite positive inverse temperature βββ. It allows a single spectral gap estimate at infinite temperature to certify convergence across Hamiltonians and temperatures. Such an estimate is often known from a classical spectral gap estimate, such as the classical random walk spectral gap. For Hodge Laplacians of simplicial complexes as Hamiltonians, we construct coupling operators whose generator at infinite temperature has the same spectral gap as a classical simplicial down-up walk. A positive spectral gap of the walk and bounded spectral width W=λmax⁡(H)−λmin⁡(H)W=λ_{\max}(H)-λ_{\min}(H)W=λmax​(H)−λmin​(H) give a generator spectral gap independent of the number of simplices at every fixed temperature. We then establish conditions under which the sampler approximately prepares zero-energy (harmonic) states in polynomial evolution time. This provides a conditional convergence guarantee for the state preparation in the thermal approach to quantum topological data analysis.
We introduce Recursive Operator Localization (ROL), a framework for constructing hierarchies of local energy problems linked by linear maps between Hilbert spaces. To address spectral-gap problems, including those arising in quantum systems, we study a realization of ROL by nested subspaces indexed by a weighted simplicial complex. Using spectral gaps of auxiliary classical random walks on links, we propagate geometric estimates upward and use them to turn local spectral gaps at the bottom of the hierarchy into a spectral-gap bound for the global operator. For weighted scalar-valued functions on facets, the ROL decomposition becomes the law of total variance, recovering classical spectral-gap bounds from local link expansion (Alev and Lau, STOC 2020). Moreover, for positive binary spin distributions, conditional influence describes the overlap of the corresponding subspaces, yielding known heat-bath gap bounds from spectral independence (Anari, Liu, and Oveis Gharan, FOCS 2020). The framework also offers a route toward quantum Gibbs sampling, with applications requiring model-specific geometric estimates and energy comparisons.
Starting from an arbitrary full-rank state of a lattice quantum spin system, we define a "canonical purified Hamiltonian" and characterize its spectral gap in terms of a spatial mixing condition (or correlation decay) of the state. When the state considered is a Gibbs state of a local, commuting Hamiltonian at positive temperature, we show that the spectral gap of the canonical purified Hamiltonian provides a lower bound to the spectral gap of a large class of reversible generators of quantum Markov semigroup, including local and ergodic Davies generators. As an application of our construction, we show that the mixing condition is always satisfied for any finite-range 1D model, as well as by Kitaev's quantum double models.
We prove rapid mixing of a quantum Gibbs sampler for general one-dimensional non-commuting local spin systems at every fixed positive temperature. In particular, for a system of nnn sites, we show that the Kubo--Martin--Schwinger (KMS) detailed-balanced Gibbs sampler of~\cite{CKG2023} converges from any initial state to trace-norm error εεε in time O(log⁡4(n)+log⁡(1/ε))O(\log^4(n)+\log(1/ε))O(log4(n)+log(1/ε)). This improves the previous O(n+log⁡(1/ε))O(n+\log(1/ε))O(n+log(1/ε)) bound and establishes rapid mixing beyond high-temperature and weak-interaction regimes. Our proof explains why the slowest decay rate, captured by the spectral gap, can substantially underestimate the speed of equilibration. The key insight is that a state far from equilibrium must have a substantial component outside the span of low-weight Pauli operators, where stronger dissipation estimates apply. This yields two stages of relaxation: a double-exponential convergence from a bad initial state, followed by exponential convergence near equilibrium. We turn this mechanism into a framework for proving rapid mixing through spectral analysis beyond the gap. Our decay estimate is equivalent to exponential convergence in sandwiched Rényi-2 divergence. Together with the spectral gap, it also implies a modified logarithmic Sobolev inequality with rate Ω(log⁡−4(n))Ω(\log^{-4}(n))Ω(log−4(n)).
We develop a rigorous and implementable framework for Gibbs sampling of infinite-dimensional quantum systems governed by unbounded Hamiltonians. Extending dissipative Gibbs samplers beyond finite dimensions raises fundamental obstacles, including ill-defined generators, the absence of spectral gaps on natural Banach spaces, and tensions between implementability and convergence guarantees. We overcome these issues by constructing KMS-symmetric quantum Markov semigroups on separable Hilbert spaces that are both well-posed and efficiently implementable on qubit hardware. Our generation theory is based on the abstract framework of Dirichlet forms, adapted here to the case of algebras of bounded operators over separable Hilbert spaces. Leveraging the spectral properties of our self-adjoint generators, we establish quantitative convergence results in trace distance, including regimes of fast thermalization. In contrast, we also identify Hamiltonians for which a naive choice of generators guaranteeing implementability generally comes at the cost of losing uniform exponential convergence guarantees for the associated evolutions, thereby establishing a strong trade-off between implementability and convergence. Our framework applies to a wide class of models - including Schrödinger operators, Gaussian systems, and Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonians - and provides a unified approach linking rigorous infinite-dimensional analysis with algorithmic Gibbs state preparation.
I study the mixing time of quantum Gibbs samplers (Davies / Chen– Kastoryano–Gilyén generators) at low temperature. I prove a locality lower bound: any local, KMS–detailed-balanced sampler whose target has an order- parameter bottleneck has an Arrhenius-small spectral gap, by a quantum Cheeger argument, and hence mixing time eΩ(β∆F). The bound is a quantum Cheeger argument and holds for every KMS–detailed-balanced sampler. The coherence cannot lift an order-parameter bottleneck, thereby the obstruction survives quantization. It is not, however, intrinsic to the target. I give a 3-local, detailed-balanced Lindbladian on an enlarged spin+bond register whose spin marginal realizes the Fortuin–Kasteleyn cluster update and which, for commuting ferromagnets, has an inverse-polynomial gap at every temperature and prepares σ in poly(n)log(1/ε) gates. This gives an unconditional separation from the local-reversible class in which locality (not coherence) is the operative resource. As a conjecture, I isolate the genuinely quantum question about cluster updates for noncommuting targets, where no nonnegative bond representation exists and the cluster must be grown coherently.