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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Level statistics in a Heisenberg chain with random magnetic field

Y. Avishai, J. Richert, Richard Berkovits

Published Aug 19, 2002• 85 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Level statistics is calculated for a Heisenberg spin chain with a random magnetic field, and shown to follow that of random-matrix theory pertaining to Gaussian orthogonal ensemble, due to nonconventional time-reversal invariance. However, when a bona fide time reversal violation term is added, such as three spin interaction, the statistics follows that pertaining to Gaussian unitary ensemble.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.66.052416

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Level statistics is calculated for a Heisenberg spin chain with a random magnetic field, and shown to follow that of random-matrix theory pertaining to Gaussian orthogonal ensemble, due to nonconventional time-reversal invariance. However, when a bona fide time reversal violation term is added, such as three spin interaction, the statistics follows that pertaining to Gaussian unitary ensemble.
We study the spectral properties of and spectral crossovers between different random matrix ensembles [Poissonian, Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE), Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE)] in correlated spin-chain systems, in the presence of random magnetic fields, and the scalar spin-chirality term, competing with the usual isotropic and time-reversal invariant Heisenberg term. We have investigated these crossovers in the context of the level-spacing distribution and the level-spacing ratio distribution. We use random matrix theory (RMT) analytical results to fit the observed Poissonian-to-GOE and GOE-to-GUE crossovers, and examine the relationship between the RMT crossover parameter $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ and scaled physical parameters of the spin-chain systems in terms of a scaling exponent. We find that the crossover behavior exhibits universality, in the sense that, it becomes independent of lattice size in the large Hamiltonian matrix dimension limit. Moreover, the scaling exponent obtained from such a finite size scaling analysis, seems to be quite robust and independent of the type of crossover considered or the specific spectral correlation measure used.
Level statistics for two classes of disordered systems at criticality are analyzed in terms of different realizations of the Chalker-Coddington network model. These include: 1) Re-examination of the standard U(1) model describing dynamics of electrons on the lowest Landau level in the quantum Hall effect, where it is shown that after proper local unfolding the nearest-neighbor spacing distribution (NNSD) at the critical energy follows the Wigner surmise for Gaussian unitary ensembles (GUE). 2) Quasi-particles in disordered superconductors with broken time reversal and spin rotation invariance (in the language of random matrix theory this system is a representative of symmetry class D in the classification scheme of Altland and Zirnbauer). Here again the NNSD obeys the Wigner surmise for GUE, reflecting therefore only “basic” discrete symmetries of the system (time reversal violation) and ignoring particle-hole symmetries and other finer details (criticality). In the localized regime level repulsion is suppressed.
Abstract We study the one-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in a random magnetic field using exact diagonalization. In order to obtain many-body mobility edge at infinite temperature, we employ a polynomial filtered Lanczos method that can avoid the fill-in problem when implementing the commonly used shift-and-invert transformation. In stark contrast to the original Heisenberg model, although the localized phase always conforms to Poisson statistics, the ergodic phase exhibits the Gaussian unitary ensemble rather than the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble statistics due to the lack of complex conjugation symmetry. The boundary between the ergodic and localized phases is determined by carefully performing finite-size scalings for the level statistics, entanglement entropy and its standard deviation, as well as fluctuations of the total spin of the system. The two phases are also well distinguished by the full delocalization or localization in the Hilbert space wherein the participation entropies present. To indicate the localized phase in experiment, we propose a scheme for realizing the out-of-time-order correlator on a modern nuclear magnetic resonance quantum simulator.
The spectral statistics and entanglement within the eigenstates of generic spin chain Hamiltonians are analysed. A class of random matrix ensembles is defined which include the most general nearest-neighbour qubit chain Hamiltonians. For these ensembles, and their generalisations, it is seen that the long chain limiting spectral density is a Gaussian and that this convergence holds on the level of individual Hamiltonians. The rate of this convergence is numerically seen to be slow. Higher eigenvalue correlation statistics are also considered, the canonical nearest-neighbour level spacing statistics being numerically observed and linked with ensemble symmetries. A heuristic argument is given for a conjectured form of the full joint probability density function for the eigenvalues of a wide class of such ensembles. This is numerically verified in a particular case. For many translationally-invariant nearest-neighbour qubit Hamiltonians it is shown that there exists a complete orthonormal set of eigenstates for which the entanglement present in a generic member, between a fixed length block of qubits and the rest of the chain, approaches its maximal value as the chain length increases. Many such Hamiltonians are seen to exhibit a simple spectrum so that their eigenstates are unique up to phase. The entanglement within the eigenstates contrasts the spectral density for such Hamiltonians, which is that seen for a non-interacting chain of qubits. For such non-interacting chains, their always exists a basis of eigenstates for which there is no entanglement present.
Random matrix theory universality of current operators in spin-SSS Heisenberg chains
Quantum chaotic systems exhibit certain universal statistical properties that closely resemble predictions from random matrix theory (RMT). With respect to observables, it has recently been conjectured that, when truncated to a sufficiently narrow energy window, their statistical properties can be described by an unitarily invariant ensemble, and testable criteria have been introduced, which are based on the scaling behavior of free cumulants. In this paper, we investigate the conjecture numerically in translationally invariant Heisenberg spin chains with spin quantum number S=12,1,32S =\frac{1}{2},1,\frac{3}{2}S=21​,1,23​. Combining a quantum-typicality-based numerical method with the exploitation of the system's symmetries, we study the spin current operator and find clear evidence of consistency with the proposed criteria in chaotic cases. Our findings further support the conjecture of the existence of RMT universality as manifest in the observable properties in quantum chaotic systems.
Random matrix ensembles are introduced that respect the local tensor structure of Hamiltonians describing a chain of nnn distinguishable spin-half particles with nearest-neighbour interactions. We prove a central limit theorem for the density of states when n→∞n \rightarrow\inftyn→∞, giving explicit bounds on the rate of approach to the limit. Universality within a class of probability measures and the extension to more general interaction geometries are established. The level spacing distributions of the Gaussian Orthogonal, Unitary and Symplectic Ensembles are observed numerically for the energy levels in these ensembles.