Quantum many-body scars are atypical, non-thermal eigenstates that constitute a mechanism of weak ergodicity breaking, yet their stability in realistic, open quantum systems remains an outstanding question. We investigate the interplay between stability and quantum information dynamics within the PXP model subjected to local dissipation. Employing a non-Hermitian formalism, we analytically demonstrate and numerically corroborate that scar eigenstates possess intrinsic decay rates parametrically smaller than those of the surrounding chaotic bulk, revealing a pronounced stability hierarchy. This spectral robustness is a direct manifestation of the approximate algebraic structure underpinning the scars. This resilience has direct dynamical consequences. We find a suppression of information scrambling, quantified by the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC), for dynamics initiated from scar-like states. Analysis of entanglement dynamics reveals that quantum correlations in scar states persist for longer timescales under weak dissipation. These results demonstrate that algebraic confinement reduces the susceptibility of scar states to both dissipation and chaotic scrambling; the signature of this resilience is a persistent suppression of the scrambling rate and the presence of coherent oscillations, not a uniformly longer signal lifetime.
Quantum many-body scars are atypical, non-thermal eigenstates that constitute a mechanism of weak ergodicity breaking, yet their stability in realistic, open quantum systems remains an outstanding question. We investigate the interplay between stability and quantum information dynamics within the PXP model subjected to local dissipation. Employing a non-Hermitian formalism, we analytically demonstrate and numerically corroborate that scar eigenstates possess intrinsic decay rates parametrically smaller than those of the surrounding chaotic bulk, revealing a pronounced stability hierarchy. This spectral robustness is a direct manifestation of the approximate algebraic structure underpinning the scars. This resilience has direct dynamical consequences. We find a suppression of information scrambling, quantified by the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC), for dynamics initiated from scar-like states. Analysis of entanglement dynamics reveals that quantum correlations in scar states persist for longer timescales under weak dissipation. These results demonstrate that algebraic confinement reduces the susceptibility of scar states to both dissipation and chaotic scrambling; the signature of this resilience is a persistent suppression of the scrambling rate and the presence of coherent oscillations, not a uniformly longer signal lifetime.
Quantum many-body scarred systems host special nonthermal eigenstates that support periodic revival dynamics and weakly break the ergodicity. Here, we study the quantum information scrambling dynamics in quantum many-body scarred systems, with a focus on the ``PXP'' model. We use the out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC) and Holevo information as measures of the information scrambling and apply an efficient numerical method based on matrix product operators to compute them up to 41 spins. We find that both the OTOC and Holevo information exhibit a linear light cone and periodic oscillations inside the light cone for initial states within the scarred subspace, which is in sharp contrast to thermal or many-body localized systems. The periodic revivals of OTOCs and Holevo information signify unusual breakdown of quantum chaos and are not equivalent to the revival dynamics of state fidelity or local observables studied in the previous literature. To explain the formation of the linear light-cone structure, we provide a perturbation-type calculation based on a phenomenological model. In addition, we demonstrate that the OTOC and Holevo information dynamics of the PXP model can be measured using the Rydberg-atom quantum simulators with current experimental technologies and numerically identify the measurable signatures using experimental parameters.
Abstract We investigated the stability of quantum many-body scars under perturbations using a PXP model. Using numerical simulations, we analyzed the fidelity and correlation functions of the system to track its evolution and assess the persistence of revivals. We explored two distinct types of perturbations: imperfections in the initial state, which naturally arise in experimental settings, and disorder in the Hamiltonian, which was introduced as a computational tool to probe the system’s response to external disturbances. We found that while certain initial state modifications can partially stabilize oscillations by restricting the system’s accessible dynamics, others accelerate thermalization by increasing overlap with the full eigenstate spectrum. Similarly, disorder in the Hamiltonian gradually suppresses revivals and enhances thermalization, but scars demonstrate robustness for small perturbations. Our results provide insights into the conditions under which quantum many-body scars persist, offering valuable implications for experimental realizations and controlled quantum dynamics.
This thesis investigates the anomalous dynamics observed in a Rydberg atom experiment in the broadest sense: a strongly interacting spin chain, without integrability or disorder, exhibits coherent many-body revivals ensuing only from specific initial states. This non-thermal behavior is attributed to the presence of quantum many-body scars (QMBS), a novel class of ergodicity breaking phenomena. Unlike other non-thermalizing systems such as integrable models and many-body localization, the mechanism of ergodicity breaking in QMBS is quite subtle, relying on a (vanishingly) small subset of anomalous eigenstates, known as scar states: one could observe ergodicity breaking only if initial states have appreciable overlap with these scar states. In other words, systems hosting QMBS are indistinguishable from typical chaotic, thermalizing systems, except for scar states. While the theoretical understanding of QMBS has advanced through the investigation of various toy quantum models, ranging from the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) model to the Hubbard model, these insights do not fully resolve the mysterious oscillations in the Rydberg experiment: crucially the wavefunction corresponding to the experiment, and its relation to many other toy models in the literature remain open questions. Furthermore, beyond mathematical curiocity, the observability of non-thermal dynamics suggests that QMBS may yield distinct physical effects. the nature of which remains to be determined. This dissertation addresses these issues by solving two concrete problems: (i) the mathematical characterization of scar states in the PXP model, the effective model for the experiment, and (ii) the identification of physical consequences of QMBS in both short- and long-time dynamics. In the first part, we clarify the algebraic structure underlying the scar states of the PXP model and derive analytic ansatz for these wavefunctions. The proposed forms make explicit the hidden algebraic structure of the PXP scars and demonstrate how this structure is shared with many other QMBS Hamiltonians, including the AKLT model. The second part investigates dynamical signatures and robustness. Given the fragility of many-body eigenstates to perturbations, identifying which scar characteristics survive realistic perturbations is crucial. In closed systems, we show that out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) and the associated Lyapunov exponent can distinguish QMBS from generic chaotic states, at least within a semiclassical regime. Specifically, the OTOC growth associated with scar states is parametrically slower and remains slow under small ``scar-breaking'' perturbations. For open systems governed by non-Hermitian dynamics, we introduce a novel non-equilibrium phase, the QMBS phase, where the long-time wavefunction is localized in a small corner of the Hilbert space. We further identify a first-order transition between the QMBS phase and a thermal phase, where the wavefunction becomes delocalized.
Abstract Generic closed quantum many-body systems tend to thermalize, a phenomenon known as quantum ergodicity, where initial local information scrambles into the full space. A paradigmatic exception is many-body localization (MBL), where disorder prevents thermalization and breaks ergodicity strongly. While environmental dissipation is generally expected to delocalize such systems, this consequence has recently been challenged. Here we show that local dissipative operators can instead stabilize weak ergodicity breaking in systems with quantum many-body scars (QMBS). These operators drive the system into steady states dominated by scarred eigenstates. Furthermore, we show that this tailored dissipation induces robust dynamic revivals, even in the presence of local dephasing noise. We propose an experimental realization using a cold atomic setup. Our findings make ergodicity-breaking signatures directly observable in dissipative dynamics and open avenues for preparing long-lived QMBS states with coherent dynamics.
Quantum many-body scars (QMBSs) represent a weak ergodicity-breaking phenomenon that defies the common scenario of thermalization in closed quantum systems. They are often regarded as a many-body analog of quantum scars (QSs)—a single-particle phenomenon in quantum chaos—due to their superficial similarities. However, unlike QSs, a clear connection between QMBSs and classical chaos has remained elusive. It has nevertheless been speculated that in an appropriate semiclassical limit, QMBSs should have a correspondence to weakly unstable periodic orbits. In this paper, I present a counterexample to this conjecture by studying a bosonic model with a large number of flavors. The dynamics of out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) suggest that QMBS do not display chaotic behavior in the semiclassical limit. In contrast, chaotic dynamics are expected for initial states not associated with QMBS. Interestingly, the anomalous OTOC dynamics persist even under weak perturbations that eliminate the scarred eigenstates, suggesting a certain robustness in the phenomenon.
Abstract Quantum many-body scars (QMBSs) are atypical eigenstates in otherwise nonintegrable systems that weakly break ergodicity, exhibiting nonthermal dynamics and long-lived periodic revivals. However, implementing QMBS in non-Hermitian systems remains a significant challenge, as it demands a deep understanding of the influence of exceptional points (EPs) on quantum many-body dynamics, especially higher-order EPs. Here, we use single-photon interference to demonstrate that experimentally controlled non-Hermitian dissipation stabilizes and enhances scarred dynamics, realizing nearly perfect, high-fidelity revival. These ideas can be exemplified in quantum systems that support scarred dynamics. In the non-Hermitian regime, symmetry-promoted exceptional points confine the dynamics to robust nonthermal subspaces, enabling high-fidelity scarred revivals over an extended parameter range. These results establish non-Hermitian quantum engineering as a versatile strategy for creating and sustaining perfect quantum scars, offering pathways for quantum-enhanced metrology, coherent state preparation, and fault-tolerant quantum information processing.