We show that the onset of quantum chaos at infinite temperature in two many-body one-dimensional lattice models, the perturbed spin-1/2 XXZ and Anderson models, is characterized by universal behavior. Specifically, we show that the onset of quantum chaos is marked by maxima of the typical fidelity susceptibilities that scale with the square of the inverse average level spacing, saturating their upper bound, and that the strength of the integrability- or localization-breaking perturbation at these maxima decreases with increasing system size. We also show that the spectral function below the ``Thouless'' energy (in the quantum-chaotic regime) diverges when approaching those maxima. Our results suggest that, in the thermodynamic limit, arbitrarily small integrability- or localization-breaking perturbations result in quantum chaos in the many-body quantum systems studied here.
By means of full exact diagonalization, we study level statistics and the structure of the eigenvectors of one-dimensional gapless bosonic and fermionic systems across the transition from integrability to quantum chaos. These systems are integrable in the presence of only nearest-neighbor terms, whereas the addition of next-nearest neighbor hopping and interaction may lead to the onset of chaos. We show that the strength of the next-nearest neighbor terms required to observe clear signatures of nonintegrability is inversely proportional to the system size. Interestingly, the transition to chao…
We study heat transport in a nonequilibrium steady state of a quantum interacting spin chain. We provide clear numerical evidence of the validity of Fourier law. The regime of normal conductivity is shown to set in at the transition to quantum chaos.
We study the onset of chaos and statistical relaxation in two isolated dynamical quantum systems of interacting spins-1/2, one of which is integrable and the other chaotic. Our approach to identifying the emergence of chaos is based on the level of delocalization of the eigenstates with respect to the energy shell, the latter being determined by the interaction strength between particles or quasi-particles. We also discuss how the onset of chaos may be anticipated by a careful analysis of the Hamiltonian matrices, even before diagonalization. We find that despite differences between the two mo…
We report a systematic study of finite-temperature spin transport in quantum and classical one-dimensional magnets with isotropic spin interactions, including both integrable and non-integrable models. Employing a phenomenological framework based on a generalized Burgers' equation in a time-dependent stochastic environment, we identify four different universality classes of spin fluctuations. These comprise, aside from normal spin diffusion, three types of superdiffusive transport: the KPZ universality class and two distinct types of anomalous diffusion with multiplicative logarithmic correcti…
After a general discussion of the thermodynamics of conductive processes, we introduce specific observables enabling the connection of the diffusive transport properties with the microscopic dynamics. We solve the case of Brownian particles, both analytically and numerically, and address then whether aspects of the classic Onsager's picture generalize to the non-local non-reversible dynamics described by logistic map iterates. While in the chaotic case numerical evidence of a monotonic relaxation is found, at the onset of chaos complex relaxation patterns emerge.
In this Letter we show that the transition from laminar to active behavior in extended chaotic systems can vary from a continuous transition in the universality class of Directed Percolation with infinitely many absorbing states to what appears as a first order transition. The latter occurs when {\em finite} lifetime non-chaotic structures, called ``solitons'', dominate the dynamics. We illustrate this scenario in an extension of the deterministic Chaté--Manneville coupled map lattice model and in a soliton including variant of the stochastic Domany-Kinzel cellular automaton.
Integrable quantum systems of finite size are generically robust against weak enough integrability-breaking perturbations, but become quantum chaotic and thermalizing if the integrability-breaking is strong enough. We argue that the onset of quantum chaos can be described as a Fock-space delocalization process, with the eigenstates of the integrable system being taken as the "Fock states". The integrability-breaking perturbation introduces hopping in this Fock space, and chaos sets in when this hopping delocalizes the many-body eigenstates in this space. Depending on the range of the dominant …
The dynamics of non-equilibrium spatially extended systems are often dominated by fluctuations, due to e.g.\ deterministic chaos or to intrinsic stochasticity. This reflects into generic scale invariant or kinetic roughening behavior that can be classified into universality classes defined by critical exponent values and by the probability distribution function (PDF) of field fluctuations. Suitable geometrical constraints are known to change secondary features of the PDF while keeping the values of the exponents unchanged, inducing universality subclasses. Working on the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky e…
We study temperature chaos in a two-dimensional Ising spin glass with random quenched bimodal couplings, by an exact computation of the partition functions on large systems. We study two temperature correlators from the total free energy and from the domain wall free energy: in the second case we detect a chaotic behavior. We determine and discuss the chaos exponent and the fractal dimension of the domain walls.
We analytically link three properties of nonlinear dynamical systems, namely sensitivity to initial conditions, entropy production, and escape rate, in $z$-logistic maps for both positive and zero Lyapunov exponents. We unify these relations at chaos, where the Lyapunov exponent is positive, and at its onset, where it vanishes. Our result unifies, in particular, two already known cases, namely (i) the standard entropy rate in the presence of escape, valid for exponential functionality rates with strong chaos, and (ii) the Pesin-like identity with no escape, valid for the power-law behavior pre…
The growth of commutators of initially commuting local operators diagnoses the onset of chaos in quantum many-body systems. We compute such commutators of local field operators with $N$ components in the $(2+1)$-dimensional $O(N)$ nonlinear sigma model to leading order in $1/N$. The system is taken to be in thermal equilibrium at a temperature $T$ above the zero temperature quantum critical point separating the symmetry broken and unbroken phases. The commutator grows exponentially in time with a rate denoted $λ_L$. At large $N$ the growth of chaos as measured by $λ_L$ is slow because the mode…
Spectral correlations are a powerful tool to study the dynamics of quantum many-body systems. For Hermitian Hamiltonians, quantum chaotic motion is related to random matrix theory spectral correlations. Based on recent progress in the application of spectral analysis to non-Hermitian quantum systems, we show that local level statistics, which probe the dynamics around the Heisenberg time, of a non-Hermitian $q$-body Sachdev-Ye-Kitev (nHSYK) model with $N$ Majorana fermions, and its chiral and complex-fermion extensions, are also well described by random matrix theory for $q > 2$, while for $q …
An important aspect of the physics of amorphous solids is the onset of irreversible behavior usually associated with yield. Here we study amorphous solids under periodic shear using quasi-static molecular dynamics simulations and observe a transition from reversible to irreversible deformation at a critical strain amplitude. We find that for small strain amplitudes the system exhibits a noisy but repetitive limit-cycle, similar to return point memory \cite{sethna1993hysteresis}. However, for large strain amplitudes the behavior becomes chaotic (shows sensitivity to initial conditions) and thus…
We review recent results obtained for the dynamics of incipient chaos. These results suggest a common picture underlying the three universal routes to chaos displayed by the prototypical logistic and circle maps. Namely, the period doubling, intermittency, and quasiperiodicity routes. In these situations the dynamical behavior is exactly describable through infinite families of Tsallis' $q$-exponential functions. Furthermore, the addition of a noise perturbation to the dynamics at the onset of chaos of the logistic map allows to establish parallels with the behavior of supercooled liquids clos…
The properties of discrete two-dimensional spin glasses depend strongly on the way the zero-temperature limit is taken. We discuss this phenomenon in the context of the Migdal-Kadanoff renormalization group. We see, in particular, how these properties are connected with the presence of a cascade of fixed points in the renormalization group flow. Of particular interest are two unstable fixed points that correspond to two different spin-glass phases at zero temperature. We discuss how these phenomena are related with the presence of entropy fluctuations and temperature chaos, and universality in…
We study the properties of spectra and eigenfunctions for a chain of $1/2- $spins (qubits) in an external time-dependent magnetic field, and under the conditions of non-selective excitation (when the amplitude of the magnetic field is large). This model is known as a possible candidate for experimental realization of quantum computation. We present the theory for finding delocalization transition and show that for the interaction between nearest qubits, the transition is very different from that to quantum chaos. We explain this phenomena by showing that in the considered region of parameters …
The dynamics of iterates at the transition to chaos in one-dimensional unimodal maps is shown to exhibit the characteristic elements of the glass transition, e.g. two-step relaxation and aging. The properties of the bifurcation gap induced by external noise, including a relationship between relaxation time and entropy, are seen to be comparable to those of a supercooled liquid above a glass transition temperature. Universal time evolution obtained from the Feigenbaum RG transformation is expressed analytically via $q$-exponentials, and interpreted in terms of nonextensive statistics.
We explore fundamental questions about the renormalization group through a detailed re-examination of Feigenbaum's period doubling route to chaos. In the space of one-humped maps, the renormalization group characterizes the behavior near any critical point by the behavior near the fixed point. We show that this fixed point is far from unique, and characterize a submanifold of fixed points of alternative RG transformations. We build on this framework to systematically distinguish and analyze the allowed singular and `gauge' (analytic and redundant) corrections to scaling, explaining numerical r…
We study a family of binary state, socially-inspired contagion models which incorporate imitation limited by an aversion to complete conformity. We uncover rich behavior in our models whether operating with either probabilistic or deterministic individual response functions on both dynamic and fixed random networks. In particular, we find significant variation in the limiting behavior of a population's infected fraction, ranging from steady-state to chaotic. We show that period doubling arises as we increase the average node degree, and that the universality class of this well known route to c…
We introduce a new universality class of one-dimensional unimodal dissipative maps. The new family, from now on referred to as the ($z_1,z_2$)-{\it logarithmic map}, corresponds to a generalization of the $z$-logistic map. The Feigenbaum-like constants of these maps are determined. It has been recently shown that the probability density of sums of iterates at the edge of chaos of the $z$-logistic map is numerically consistent with a $q$-Gaussian, the distribution which, under appropriate constraints, optimizes the nonadditive entropy $S_q$. We focus here on the presently generalized maps to ch…
Isolated quantum system in a pure state may be perceived as thermal if only substantially small fraction of all degrees of freedom is probed. We propose that in a chaotic quantum many-body system all states with sufficiently small energy fluctuations are approximately thermal. We refer to this hypothesis as Canonical Universality (CU). The CU hypothesis complements the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH) which proposes that for chaotic systems individual energy eigenstates are thermal. Integrable and MBL systems do not satisfy CU. We provide theoretical and numerical evidence supporting…
We study the time dynamics of random density matrices generated by evolving the same pure state using a Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) of Hamiltonians. We show that the spectral statistics of the resulting mixed state is well described by random matrix theory (RMT) and undergoes a crossover from the GOE to the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE) for short and large times respectively. Using a semi-analytical treatment relying on a power series of the density matrix as a function of time, we find that the crossover occurs in a characteristic time that scales as the inverse of the Hilbert space …
Transitions to chaos in archetypal low-dimensional nonlinear maps offer real and precise model systems in which to assess proposed generalizations of statistical mechanics. The known association of chaotic dynamics with the structure of Boltzmann--Gibbs (BG) statistical mechanics has suggested the potential verification of these generalizations at the onset of chaos, when the only Lyapunov exponent vanishes and ergodic and mixing properties cease to hold. There are three well-known routes to chaos in these deterministic dissipative systems, period-doubling, quasi-periodicity and intermittency,…
Anomalous dynamics in which local perturbations spread faster than diffusion are ubiquitously observed in the long-time behavior of a wide variety of systems. Here, the manner by which such systems evolve towards their asymptotic superdiffusive behavior is explored using the 1d Lévy walk of order $1 < β< 2$. The approach towards superdiffusion, as captured by the leading correction to the asymptotic behavior, is shown to remarkably undergo a transition as $β$ crosses the critical value $β_{c} = 3/2$. Above $β_{c}$, this correction scales as $\lvert x \rvert \sim t^{1/2}$, describing simple dif…
Superdiffusion arises when complicated, correlated and noisy motion at the microscopic scale conspires to yield peculiar dynamics at the macroscopic scale. It ubiquitously appears in a variety of scenarios, spanning a broad range of scientific disciplines. The approach of superdiffusive systems towards their long-time, asymptotic behavior was recently studied using the Lévy walk of order $1<β<2$, revealing a universal transition at the critical $β_{c}=3/2$. Here, we investigate the origin of this transition and identify two crucial ingredients: a finite velocity which couples the walker's posi…
We review the occurrence of the patterns of the onset of chaos in low-dimensional nonlinear dissipative systems in leading topics of condensed matter physics and complex systems of various disciplines. We consider the dynamics associated with the attractors at period-doubling accumulation points and at tangent bifurcations to describe features of glassy dynamics, critical fluctuations and localization transitions. We recall that trajectories pertaining to the routes to chaos form families of time series that are readily transformed into networks via the Horizontal Visibility algorithm, and thi…
We uncover the dynamics at the chaos threshold $μ_{\infty}$ of the logistic map and find it consists of trajectories made of intertwined power laws that reproduce the entire period-doubling cascade that occurs for $μ<μ_{\infty}$. We corroborate this structure analytically via the Feigenbaum renormalization group (RG) transformation and find that the sensitivity to initial conditions has precisely the form of a $q$-exponential, of which we determine the $q$-index and the $q$-generalized Lyapunov coefficient $λ_{q}$. Our results are an unequivocal validation of the applicability of the non-exten…
We develop the characterization of the dynamics at the noise-perturbed edge of chaos in logistic maps in terms of the quantities normally used to describe glassy properties in structural glass formers. Following the recognition [Phys. Lett. \textbf{A 328}, 467 (2004)] that the dynamics at this critical attractor exhibits analogies with that observed in thermal systems close to vitrification, we determine the modifications that take place with decreasing noise amplitude in ensemble and time averaged correlations and in diffusivity. We corroborate explicitly the occurrence of two-step relaxation…
Asymptotically entropy of chaotic systems increases linearly and the sensitivity to initial conditions is exponential with time: these two behaviors are related. Such relationship is the analogous of and under specific conditions has been shown to coincide with the Pesin identity. Numerical evidences support the proposal that the statistical formalism can be extended to the edge of chaos by using a specific generalization of the exponential and of the Boltzmann-Gibbs entropy. We extend this picture and a Pesin-like identity to a wide class of deformed entropies and exponentials using the logis…
We study the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH) in chaotic conformal field theories (CFTs) of arbitrary dimensions. Assuming local ETH, we compute the reduced density matrix of a ball-shaped subsystem of finite size in the infinite volume limit when the full system is an energy eigenstate. This reduced density matrix is close in trace distance to a density matrix, to which we refer as the ETH density matrix, that is independent of all the details of an eigenstate except its energy and charges under global symmetries. In two dimensions, the ETH density matrix is universal for all theori…
Ensemble of initial conditions for nonlinear maps can be described in terms of entropy. This ensemble entropy shows an asymptotic linear growth with rate K. The rate K matches the logarithm of the corresponding asymptotic sensitivity to initial conditions λ. The statistical formalism and the equality K=λcan be extended to weakly chaotic systems by suitable and corresponding generalizations of the logarithm and of the entropy. Using the logistic map as a test case we consider a wide class of deformed statistical description which includes Tsallis, Abe and Kaniadakis proposals. The physical crit…
As a counterpart to our previous study of the stationary distribution formed by sums of positions at the Feigenbaum point via the period-doubling cascade in the logistic map (Eur. Phys. J. B 87 32, (2014)), we determine the family of related distributions for the accompanying cascade of chaotic band-splitting points in the same system. By doing this we rationalize how the interplay of regular and chaotic dynamics gives rise to either multiscale or gaussian limit distributions. As demonstrated before (J. Stat. Mech. P01001 (2010)), sums of trajectory positions associated with the chaotic-band a…
First, we analyze trajectories inside the Feigenbaum attractor and obtain the atypical weak sensitivity to initial conditions and loss of information associated to their dynamics. We identify the Mori singularities in its Lyapunov spectrum with the appearance of a special value for the entropic index q of the Tsallis statistics. Secondly, the dynamics of iterates at the noise-perturbed transition to chaos is shown to exhibit the characteristic elements of the glass transition, e.g. two-step relaxation, aging, subdiffusion and arrest. The properties of the bifurcation gap induced by the noise a…
We argue that the synchronization transition of stochastically coupled cellular automata, discovered recently by L.G. Morelli {\it et al.} (Phys. Rev. {\bf 58 E}, R8 (1998)), is generically in the directed percolation universality class. In particular, this holds numerically for the specific example studied by these authors, in contrast to their claim. For real-valued systems with spatiotemporal chaos such as coupled map lattices, we claim that the synchronization transition is generically in the universality class of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation with a nonlinear growth limiting term.
We analyze the properties of the self-similar network obtained from the trajectories of unimodal maps at the transition to chaos via the horizontal visibility (HV) algorithm. We first show that this network is uniquely determined by the encoded sequence of positions in the dynamics within the Feigenbaum attractor and it is universal in that it is independent of the shape and nonlinearity of the maps in this class. We then find that the network degrees fluctuate at all scales with an amplitude that increases as the size of the network grows. This suggests the definition of a graph-theoretical L…
We investigate the onset of chaos in a periodically kicked Dicke model (KDM), using the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) as a diagnostic tool, in both the oscillator and the spin subspaces. In the large spin limit, the classical Hamiltonian map is constructed, which allows us to investigate the corresponding phase space dynamics and to compute the Lyapunov exponent. We show that the growth rate of the OTOC for the canonically conjugate coordinates of the oscillator is able to capture the Lyapunov exponent in the chaotic regime. The onset of chaos is further investigated using the saturation…
We analyze the fluctuating dynamics at the golden-mean transition to chaos in the critical circle map and find that trajectories within the critical attractor consist of infinite sets of power laws mixed together. We elucidate this structure assisted by known renormalization group (RG) results. Next we proceed to weigh the new findings against Tsallis' entropic and Mori's thermodynamic theoretical schemes and observe behavior to a large extent richer than previously reported. We find that the sensitivity to initial conditions has the form of families of intertwined q-exponentials, of which we …
