Spectral features of a many-body localized system weakly coupled to a heat bath

We study many-body-localized (MBL) systems that are weakly coupled to thermalizing environments, focusing on the spectral functions of local operators. We argue that these spectral functions carry signatures of localization even away from the limit of perfectly isolated systems. We find that, in the limit of vanishing coupling to a bath, MBL systems come in two varieties, with either discrete or continuous local spectra. Both varieties of MBL systems exhibit a "soft gap" at zero frequency in the spatially-averaged spectral functions of local operators, which serves as a diagnostic for localization. We estimate the degree to which coupling to a bath broadens these spectral features, and find that characteristics of incipient localization survive as long as the system-bath coupling is much weaker than the characteristic energy scales of the system. Since perfect isolation is impossible, we expect the ideas discussed in this paper to be relevant for all experiments on many-body localization.Comment: Expanded discussion of multiple lengthscales and of properties as a quantum memor

A Unified Description of Cuprate and Iron Arsenide Superconductors

We propose a unified description of cuprate and iron-based superconductivity. Consistency with magnetic structure inferred from neutron scattering implies significant constraints on the symmetry of the pairing gap for the iron-based superconductors. We find that this unification requires the orbital pairing formfactors for the iron arsenides to differ fundamentally from those for cuprates at the microscopic level.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, 2 table

SU(4) Model of High-Temperature Superconductivity: Manifestation of Dynamical Symmetry in Cuprates

The mechanism that leads to high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates remains an open question despite intense study for nearly two decades. Here, we introduce an SU(4) model for cuprate systems having many similarities to dynamical symmetries known to play an important role in nuclear structure physics and in elementary particle physics. Analytical solutions in three dynamical symmetry limits of this model are found: an SO(4) limit associated with antiferromagnetic order; an SU(2) limit that may be interpreted as a d-wave pairing condensate; and an SO(5) limit that may be interpreted as a doorway state between the antiferromagnetic order and the superconducting order. It is demonstrated that with a slightly broken SO(5) but under constraint of the parent SU(4) symmetry, the model is capable of describing the rich physics that is crucial in explaining why cuprate systems that are antiferromagnetic Mott insulators at half filling become superconductors through hole doping.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of "Nuclei and Mesoscopic Physics" to be published by AI

Pairing in the Framework of the Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM): Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Calculations

In this first in a series of articles, we apply effective interactions derived by the Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM) to the description of open-shell nuclei, using a self-consistent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov framework to account for pairing correlations. To disentangle the particle-hole and particle-particle channels and assess the pairing properties of \VUCOM, we consider hybrid calculations using the phenomenological Gogny D1S interaction to derive the particle-hole mean field. In the main part of this article, we perform calculations of the tin isotopic chain using \VUCOM in both the particle-hole and particle-particle channels. We study the interplay of both channels, and discuss the impact of non-central and non-local terms in realistic interactions as well as the frequently used restriction of pairing interactions to the ${}^1S_0$ partial wave. The treatment of the center-of-mass motion and its effect on theoretical pairing gaps is assessed independently of the used interactions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. C, title modified accordingl

Dispersive regime of the Jaynes-Cummings and Rabi lattice

Photon-based strongly-correlated lattice models like the Jaynes-Cummings and Rabi lattices differ from their more conventional relatives like the Bose-Hubbard model by the presence of an additional tunable parameter: the frequency detuning between the pseudo-spin degree of freedom and the harmonic mode frequency on each site. Whenever this detuning is large compared to relevant coupling strengths, the system is said to be in the dispersive regime. The physics of this regime is well-understood at the level of a single Jaynes-Cummings or Rabi site. Here, we extend the theoretical description of the dispersive regime to lattices with many sites, for both strong and ultra-strong coupling. We discuss the nature and spatial range of the resulting qubit-qubit and photon-photon coupling, demonstrate the emergence of photon- pairing and squeezing, and illustrate our results by exact diagonalization of the Rabi dimer.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, Published by NJP, Focus Issues "Focus on Quantum Microwave Field Effects in Superconducting Circuits