Solvable model for a dynamical quantum phase transition from fast to slow scrambling

We propose an extension of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model that exhibits a quantum phase transition from the previously identified non-Fermi liquid fixed point to a Fermi liquid like state, while still allowing an exact solution in a suitable large $N$ limit. The extended model involves coupling the interacting $N$-site SYK model to a new set of $pN$ peripheral sites with only quadratic hopping terms between them. The conformal fixed point of the SYK model remains a stable low energy phase below a critical ratio of peripheral sites $p<p_c(n)$ that depends on the fermion filling $n$. The scrambling dynamics throughout the non-Fermi liquid phase is characterized by a universal Lyapunov exponent $\lambda_L\to 2\pi T$ in the low temperature limit, however the temperature scale marking the crossover to the conformal regime vanishes continuously at the critical point $p_c$. The residual entropy at $T\to 0$, non zero in the NFL, also vanishes continuously at the critical point. For $p>p_c$ the quadratic sites effectively screen the SYK dynamics, leading to a quadratic fixed point in the low temperature and frequency limit. The interactions have a perturbative effect in this regime leading to scrambling with Lyapunov exponent $\lambda_L\propto T^2$.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, added the calculation for Lyapunov exponent away from the particle-hole symmetric situatio

Electronic Structure of Oxide Interfaces: A Comparative Analysis of GdTiO3_3/SrTiO3_3 and LaAlO3_3/SrTiO3_3 Interfaces

Emergent phases in the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) formed at the interface between two insulating oxides have attracted great attention in the past decade. We present ab-initio electronic structure calculations for the interface between a Mott insulator GdTiO$_3$ (GTO) and a band insulator SrTiO$_3$ (STO) and compare our results with those for the widely studied LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ (LAO/STO) interface between two band insulators. Our GTO/STO results are in excellent agreement with experiments, but qualitatively different from LAO/STO. We find an interface carrier density of 0.5$e^{-}$/Ti, independent of GTO thickness in both superlattice and thin film geometries, in contrast to LAO/STO. The superlattice geometry in LAO/STO offers qualitatively the same result as in GTO/STO. On the other hand, for a thin film geometry, the interface carrier density builds up only beyond a threshold thickness of LAO. The positive charge at the vacuum surface that compensates the 2DEG at the interface also exhibits distinct behaviors in the two systems. The top GTO layer is found to be insulating due to correlation-driven charge disproportionation, while the top LAO layer is metallic within band theory and may become insulating due to surface disorder or surface reconstruction.Comment: 7 figure

Classical limit of measurement-induced transition in many-body chaos in integrable and non-integrable oscillator chains

We discuss the dynamics of integrable and non-integrable chains of coupled oscillators under continuous weak position measurements in the semiclassical limit. We show that, in this limit, the dynamics is described by a standard stochastic Langevin equation, and a measurement-induced transition appears as a noise- and dissipation-induced chaotic-to-non-chaotic transition akin to stochastic synchronization. In the non-integrable chain of anharmonically coupled oscillators, we show that the temporal growth and the ballistic light-cone spread of a classical out-of-time correlator characterized by the Lyapunov exponent and the butterfly velocity, are halted above a noise or below an interaction strength. The Lyapunov exponent and the butterfly velocity both act like order parameter, vanishing in the non-chaotic phase. In addition, the butterfly velocity exhibits a critical finite size scaling. For the integrable model we consider the classical Toda chain, and show that the Lyapunov exponent changes non-monotonically with the noise strength, vanishing at the zero noise limit and above a critical noise, with a maximum at an intermediate noise strength. The butterfly velocity in the Toda chain shows a singular behaviour approaching the integrable limit of zero noise strength.Comment: 4p + eps Main text; 13p Supplementar

On the stability of many-body localization in d>1d>1

Recent work by De Roeck et al. [Phys. Rev. B 95, 155129 (2017)] has argued that many-body localization (MBL) is unstable in two and higher dimensions due to a thermalization avalanche triggered by rare regions of weak disorder. To examine these arguments, we construct several models of a finite ergodic bubble coupled to an Anderson insulator of non-interacting fermions. We first describe the ergodic region using a GOE random matrix and perform an exact diagonalization study of small systems. The results are in excellent agreement with a refined theory of the thermalization avalanche that includes transient finite-size effects, lending strong support to the avalanche scenario. We then explore the limit of large system sizes by modeling the ergodic region via a Hubbard model with all-to-all random hopping: the combined system, consisting of the bubble and the insulator, can be reduced to an effective Anderson impurity problem. We find that the spectral function of a local operator in the ergodic region changes dramatically when coupling to a large number of localized fermionic states---this occurs even when the localized sites are weakly coupled to the bubble. In principle, for a given size of the ergodic region, this may arrest the avalanche. However, this back-action effect is suppressed and the avalanche can be recovered if the ergodic bubble is large enough. Thus, the main effect of the back-action is to renormalize the critical bubble size.Comment: v3: Published version. Expanded the discussion in Section IV to include a new calculation and figure (Fig. 7

Transport, multifractality, and the breakdown of single-parameter scaling at the localization transition in quasiperiodic systems

There has been a revival of interest in localization phenomena in quasiperiodic systems with a view to examining how they differ fundamentally from such phenomena in random systems. Mo- tivated by this, we study transport in the quasiperiodic, one-dimentional (1d) Aubry-Andre model and its generalizations to 2d and 3d. We study the conductance of open systems, connected to leads, as well as the Thouless conductance, which measures the response of a closed system to boundary perturbations. We find that these conductances show signatures of a metal-insulator transition from an insulator, with localized states, to a metal, with extended states having (a) ballistic transport (1d), (b) superdiffusive transport (2d), or (c) diffusive transport (3d); precisely at the transition, the system displays sub-diffusive critical states. We calculate the beta function $\beta(g) = dln(g)/dln(L)$ and show that, in 1d and 2d, single-parameter scaling is unable to describe the transition. Further- more, the conductances show strong non-monotonic variations with L and an intricate structure of resonant peaks and subpeaks. In 1d the positions of these peaks can be related precisely to the prop- erties of the number that characterizes the quasiperiodicity of the potential; and the L-dependence of the Thouless conductance is multifractal. We find that, as d increases, this non-monotonic de- pendence of g on L decreases and, in 3d, our results for $\beta(g)$ are reasonably well approximated by single-parameter scaling.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure