Many-body localization dynamics from gauge invariance

We show how lattice gauge theories can display many-body localization dynamics in the absence of disorder. Our starting point is the observation that, for some generic translationally invariant states, Gauss law effectively induces a dynamics which can be described as a disorder average over gauge super-selection sectors. We carry out extensive exact simulations on the real-time dynamics of a lattice Schwinger model, describing the coupling between U(1) gauge fields and staggered fermions. Our results show how memory effects and slow entanglement growth are present in a broad regime of parameters - in particular, for sufficiently large interactions. These findings are immediately relevant to cold atoms and trapped ions experiments realizing dynamical gauge fields, and suggest a new and universal link between confinement and entanglement dynamics in the many-body localized phase of lattice models.Comment: 5Pages + appendices; V2: updated discussion in page 2, more numerical results, added reference

Multi-spin probes for thermometry in the strong-coupling regime

We study the sensitivity of thermometric probes that are composed of $N$ spins coupled to a sample prepared at temperature $T$. Our analysis extends beyond the weak-coupling limit into the strong sample-probe coupling regime. In particular, sample-induced interactions between each of the spins are generated via strong coupling effects and are not fine-tuned amongst each body composing the probe. By employing the reaction-coordinate mapping to evaluate the non-canonical equilibrium state of the probe at finite coupling, we compute the thermometric sensitivity via the quantum Fisher information through the equilibrium state itself. We find that for single-spin probes $(N = 1)$, temperature sensitivity decreases in the regime of weak-to-intermediate coupling strength, however, as the coupling increases we observe much higher sensitivity of the probe in the low-temperature regime. Furthermore, as long as $N > 1$, there exist optimal values of the sample-probe interaction energy that allow one to attain enhanced thermometric sensitivity when compared to the maximum achieved precision obtained from thermal Gibbs states at weak coupling, particularly in the regime of low temperature. Finally, we show that this enhanced sensitivity may be observed from suboptimal measurements.Comment: 9 pages. Comments welcome

Multipartite Entanglement Structure in the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis

We study the quantum Fisher information (QFI) and, thus, the multipartite entanglement structure of thermal pure states in the context of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH). In both the canonical ensemble and the ETH, the quantum Fisher information may be explicitly calculated from the response functions. In the case of the ETH, we find that the expression of the QFI bounds the corresponding canonical expression from above. This implies that although average values and fluctuations of local observables are indistinguishable from their canonical counterpart, the entanglement structure of the state is starkly different; with the difference amplified, e.g., in the proximity of a thermal phase transition. We also provide a state-of-the-art numerical example of a situation where the quantum Fisher information in a quantum many-body system is extensive while the corresponding quantity in the canonical ensemble vanishes. Our findings have direct relevance for the entanglement structure in the asymptotic states of quenched many-body dynamics. \ua9 2020 American Physical Society

Effective-Hamiltonian theory: An approximation to the equilibrium state of open quantum systems

We extend and benchmark the recently-developed Effective-Hamiltonian (EFFH) method [PRX Quantum $\bf{4}$, 020307 (2023)] as an approximation to the equilibrium state ("mean-force Gibbs state") of a quantum system at strong coupling to a thermal bath. The EFFH method is an approximate framework. Through a combination of the reaction-coordinate mapping, a polaron transformation and a controlled truncation, it imprints the system-bath coupling parameters into the system's Hamiltonian. First, we develop a $\textit{variational}$ EFFH technique. In this method, system's parameters are renormalized by both the system-bath coupling parameters (as in the original EFFH approach) and the bath's temperature. Second, adopting the generalized spin-boson model, we benchmark the equilibrium state from the EFFH treatment against numerically-exact simulations and demonstrate a good agreement for both polarization and coherences using the Brownian spectral function. Third, we contrast the (normal and variational) EFFH approach with the familiar (normal and variational) polaron treatment. We show that the two methods predict a similar structure for the equilibrium state, albeit the EFFH approach offers the advantage of simpler calculations and closed-form analytical results. Altogether, we argue that for temperatures comparable to the system's frequencies, the EFFH methodology provides a good approximation for the mean-force Gibbs state in the full range of system-bath coupling, from ultraweak to ultrastrong.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure

Out-of-time-order correlations and the fine structure of eigenstate thermalisation

Out-of-time-order correlators (OTOCs) have become established as a tool to characterise quantum information dynamics and thermalisation in interacting quantum many-body systems. It was recently argued that the expected exponential growth of the OTOC is connected to the existence of correlations beyond those encoded in the standard Eigenstate Thermalisation Hypothesis (ETH). We show explicitly, by an extensive numerical analysis of the statistics of operator matrix elements in conjunction with a detailed study of OTOC dynamics, that the OTOC is indeed a precise tool to explore the fine details of the ETH. In particular, while short-time dynamics is dominated by correlations, the long-time saturation behaviour gives clear indications of an operator-dependent energy scale associated to the emergence of an effective Gaussian random matrix theory.Comment: 5 pages main, 10 pages supplemental. 13 figures. V2: updated format for readabilit

Taking the temperature of a pure quantum state

Temperature is a deceptively simple concept that still raises deep questions at the forefront of quantum physics research. The observation of thermalisation in completely isolated quantum systems, such as cold-atom quantum simulators, implies that a temperature can be assigned even to individual, pure quantum states. Here, we propose a scheme to measure the temperature of such pure states through quantum interference. Our proposal involves interferometry of an auxiliary qubit probe, which is prepared in a superposition state and subsequently undergoes decoherence due to weak coupling with a closed, thermalised many-body system. Using only a few basic assumptions about chaotic quantum systems -- namely, the eigenstate thermalisation hypothesis and the emergence of hydrodynamics at long times -- we show that the qubit undergoes pure exponential decoherence at a rate that depends on the temperature of its surroundings. We verify our predictions by numerical experiments on a quantum spin chain that thermalises after absorbing energy from a periodic drive. Our work provides a general method to measure the temperature of isolated, strongly interacting systems under minimal assumptions.Comment: 5+6 pages, 4+3 figures. Comments welcome. v2: Improved text and figures for clarit