We review recent progress in understanding nearly integrable models within the framework of generalized hydrodynamics (GHD). Integrable systems have infinitely many conserved quantities and stable quasiparticle excitations: when integrability is broken, only a few residual conserved quantities survive, eventually leading to thermalization, chaotic dynamics and conventional hydrodynamics. In this review, we summarize recent efforts to take into account small integrability breaking terms, and describe the transition from GHD to standard hydrodynamics. We discuss the current state of the art, with emphasis on weakly inhomogeneous potentials, generalized Boltzmann equations and collision integrals, as well as bound-state recombination effects. We also identify important open questions for future works.
We investigate the effects of localized integrability-breaking perturbations on the large times dynamics of thermodynamic quantum and classical systems. In particular, we suddenly activate an impurity which breaks the integrability of an otherwise homogeneous system. We focus on the large times dynamics and on the thermalization properties of the impurity, which is shown to have mere perturbative effects even at infinite times, thus preventing thermalization. This is in clear contrast with homogeneous integrability-breaking terms, which display the prethermalization paradigm and are expected t…
We describe the crossover from generalized hydrodynamics to conventional hydrodynamics in nearly integrable systems. Integrable systems have infinitely many conserved quantities, which spread ballistically in general. When integrability is broken, only a few of these conserved quantities survive. The remaining conserved quantities are generically transported diffusively; we derive a compact and general diffusion equation for these. The diffusion constant depends on the matrix elements of the integrability-breaking perturbation; for a certain class of integrability-breaking perturbations, inclu…
We study the effects of integrability breaking perturbations on the non-equilibrium evolution of many-particle quantum systems. We focus on a class of spinless fermion models with weak interactions. We employ equation of motion techniques that can be viewed as generalizations of quantum Boltzmann equations. We benchmark our method against time dependent density matrix renormalization group computations and find it to be very accurate as long as interactions are weak. For small integrability breaking, we observe robust prethermalization plateaux for local observables on all accessible time scal…
The one dimensional $δ$-function interacting Bose gas (the Lieb-Liniger model) is an integrable system, which can model experiments with ultra cold atoms in one dimensional traps. Even though the model is integrable, integrability breaking effects are always present in the real world experiments. In this work we consider the integrability breaking due to atomic loss, which is the most relevant effect in the experiments. We set up a framework for the exact computation of the losses of the canonical charges of the model, and compute an exact result for the energy loss due to the local $K$-body p…
We address spin transport in the easy-axis Heisenberg spin chain subject to integrability-breaking perturbations. We find that spin transport is subdiffusive with dynamical exponent $z=4$ up to a timescale that is parametrically long in the anisotropy. In the limit of infinite anisotropy, transport is subdiffusive at all times; for large finite anisotropy, one eventually recovers diffusion at late times, but with a diffusion constant independent of the strength of the integrability breaking perturbation. We provide numerical evidence for these findings, and explain them by adapting the general…
Recently, a hydrodynamic description of local equilibrium dynamics in quantum integrable systems was discovered. In the diffusionless limit, this is equivalent to a certain "Bethe-Boltzmann" kinetic equation, which has the form of an integro-differential conservation law in $(1+1)$D. The purpose of the present work is to investigate the sense in which the Bethe-Boltzmann equation defines an "integrable kinetic equation". To this end, we study a class of $N$ dimensional systems of evolution equations that arise naturally as finite-dimensional approximations to the Bethe-Boltzmann equation. We o…
Fate of diffusion under integrability breaking of classical integrable magnets
Ningbo University（宁波大学）；University of Osnabrück（奥斯纳布吕克大学）；Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems（马克斯·普朗克复杂系统物理研究所）；University of Ljubljana（卢布尔雅那大学）；Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics（数学、物理与力学研究所）
We develop a general kinetic theory framework to describe the hydrodynamics of strongly interacting, nonequilibrium quantum systems in which integrability is weakly broken, leaving a few residual conserved quantities. This framework is based on a generalized relaxation-time approximation; it gives a simple, but surprisingly accurate, prescription for computing nonequilibrium transport even in strongly interacting systems. This approximation reproduces the crossover from generalized to conventional hydrodynamics in interacting one-dimensional Bose gases with integrability-breaking perturbations…
We employ equation of motion techniques to study the non-equilibrium dynamics in a lattice model of weakly interacting spinless fermions. Our model provides a simple setting for analyzing the effects of weak integrability breaking perturbations on the time evolution after a quantum quench. We establish the accuracy of the method by comparing results at short and intermediate times to time-dependent density matrix renormalization group computations. For sufficiently weak integrability-breaking interactions we always observe prethermalization plateaux, where local observables relax to non-therma…
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 …
Cellular automata have recently attracted a lot of attention as testbeds to explore the emergence of many-body quantum chaos and hydrodynamics. We consider the Rule 54 model, one of the simplest interacting integrable models featuring two species of quasiparticles (solitons), in the presence of an integrability-breaking perturbation that allows solitons to backscatter. We study the onset of thermalization and diffusive hydrodynamics in this model, compute perturbatively the diffusion constant of tracer particles, and comment on its relation to transport coefficients.
On the emergence of quantum many-body chaos for tunably-broken integrability
International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（国际理论科学中心，塔塔基础研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme（马克斯·普朗克复杂系统物理研究所）
We investigate the heat conductivity $κ$ of the Heisenberg spin-1/2 ladder at finite temperature covering the entire range of inter-chain coupling $J_\perp$, by using several numerical methods and perturbation theory within the framework of linear response. We unveil that a perturbative prediction $κ\propto J_\perp^{-2}$, based on simple golden-rule arguments and valid in the strict limit $J_\perp \to 0$, applies to a remarkably wide range of $J_\perp$, qualitatively and quantitatively. In the large $J_\perp$-limit, we show power-law scaling of opposite nature, namely, $κ\propto J_\perp^2$. Mo…
School of Mathematics & Hamilton Mathematics Institute, Trinity College Dublin（都柏林三一学院数学与汉密尔顿数学研究所）；Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT)（圣保罗州立大学理论物理研究所）
We study a one-dimensional gas of hard rods trapped in a harmonic potential, which breaks integrability of the hard-rod interaction in a non-uniform way. We explore the consequences of such broken integrability for the dynamics of a large number of particles and find three distinct regimes: initial, chaotic, and stationary. The initial regime is captured by an evolution equation for the phase-space distribution function. For any finite number of particles, this hydrodynamics breaks down and the dynamics become chaotic after a characteristic time scale determined by the inter-particle distance …
We investigate the operator growth dynamics of the transverse field Ising spin chain in one dimension as varying the strength of the longitudinal field. An operator in the Heisenberg picture spreads in the extended Hilbert space. Recently, it has been proposed that the spreading dynamics has a universal feature signaling chaoticity of underlying quantum dynamics. We demonstrate numerically that the operator growth dynamics in the presence of the longitudinal field follows the universal scaling law for one-dimensional chaotic systems. We also find that the operator growth dynamics satisfies a c…
In this work we analyze the simultaneous emergence of diffusive energy transport and local thermalization in a nonequilibrium one-dimensional quantum system, as a result of integrability breaking. Specifically, we discuss the local properties of the steady state induced by thermal boundary driving in a XXZ spin chain with staggered magnetic field. By means of efficient large-scale matrix product simulations of the equation of motion of the system, we calculate its steady state in the long-time limit.We start by discussing the energy transport supported by the system, finding it to be ballistic…
We study the ballistic-to-diffusive transition induced by the weak breaking of integrability in a boundary-driven XXZ spin-chain. Studying the evolution of the spin current density $\mathcal J^s$ as a function of the system size $L$, we show that, accounting for boundary effects, the transition has a non-trivial universal behavior close to the XX limit. It is controlled by the scattering length $L^*\propto V^{-2}$, where $V$ is the strength of the integrability breaking term. In the XXZ model, the interplay of interactions controls the emergence of a transient "quasi-ballistic" regime at lengt…
Optimal limits on weak integrability breaking and protected thermal memory near qutrit exchange
Nanophotonics and Biophotonics Key Laboratory of Jilin Province, School of Physics, Changchun University of Science and Technology（吉林省纳米光子学与生物光子学重点实验室，长春理工大学物理学院）
We consider the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the Heisenberg anisotropic quantum spin--$1/2$ chain threaded by a time-dependent magnetic flux. In the spirit of the recently developed generalized hydrodynamics (GHD), we exploit the integrability of the model for any flux values to derive an exact description of the dynamics in the limit of slowly varying flux: the state of the system is described at any time by a time-dependent generalized Gibbs ensemble. Two dynamical regimes emerge according to the value of the anisotropy $Δ$. For $|Δ| > 1$, reversibility is preserved: the initial state is a…
Recent investigations have observed superdiffusion in integrable classical and quantum spin chains. An intriguing connection between these spin chains and Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class has emerged. Theoretical developments (e.g. generalized hydrodynamics) have highlighted the role of integrability as well as spin-symmetry in KPZ behaviour. However understanding their precise role on superdiffusive transport still remains a challenging task. The widely used quantum spin chain platform comes with severe numerical limitations. To circumvent this barrier, we focus on a classical int…
We review the non-equilibrium dynamics of many-body quantum systems after a quantum quench with spatial inhomogeneities, either in the Hamiltonian or in the initial state. We focus on integrable and many-body localized systems that fail to self-thermalize in isolation and for which the standard hydrodynamical picture breaks down. The emphasis is on universal dynamics, non-equilibrium steady states and new dynamical phases of matter, and on phase transitions far from thermal equilibrium. We describe how the infinite number of conservation laws of integrable and many-body localized systems lead …
These are lecture notes for a series of lectures given at the Les Houches Summer School on Integrability in Atomic and Condensed Matter Physics, 30 July to 24 August 2018. The same series of lectures has also been given at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, October 2019. I overview in a pedagogical fashion the main aspects of the theory of generalised hydrodynamics, a hydrodynamic theory for quantum and classical many-body integrable systems. Only very basic knowledge of hydrodynamics and integrable systems is assumed.
Recent discovery of persistent revivals in quantum simulators based on Rydberg atoms have pointed to the existence of a new type of dynamical behavior that challenged the conventional paradigms of integrability and thermalization. This novel collective effect has been named quantum many-body scars by analogy with weak ergodicity breaking of a single particle inside a stadium billiard. In this overview, we provide a pedagogical introduction to quantum many-body scars and highlight the newly emerged connections with the semiclassical quantization of many-body systems. We discuss the relation bet…
Strong-to-Weak Symmetry Breaking in Open Quantum Systems: From Discrete Particles to Continuum Hydrodynamics
University of California, Santa Barbara（加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；University of Geneva（日内瓦大学）；Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics（卡弗里理论物理研究所）
