To provide a physical example of quantum scars, we study the many-body scars in the spin-1 Kitaev chain where the so-called PXP Hamiltonian is exactly embedded in the spectra. Regarding the conserved quantities, the Hilbert space is fragmented into disconnected subspaces and we explore the associated constrained dynamics. The continuous revivals of the fidelity and the entanglement entropy when the initial state is prepared in $\vert\mathbb{Z}_k\rangle$ ($k=2,3$) state illustrate the essential physics of the PXP model. We study the quantum phase transitions in the one-dimensional spin-1 Kitaev-Heisenberg model using the density-matrix renormalization group and Lanczos exact diagonalization methods, and determine the phase diagram. We parametrize the two terms in the Hamiltonian by the angle $ϕ$, where the Kitaev term is $K\equiv\sin(ϕ)$ and competes with the Heisenberg $J\equiv\cos(ϕ)$ term. One finds a rich ground state phase diagram as a function of the angle $ϕ$. Depending on the ratio $K/J\equiv\tan(ϕ)$, the system either breaks the symmetry to one of distinct symmetry broken phases, or preserves the symmetry in a quantum spin liquid phase with frustrated interactions. We find that the scarred state is stable for perturbations which obey $\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetry, while it becomes unstable against Heisenberg-type perturbations.\\ \textit{Accepted for publication in Physical Review Research}
We study the stability of Kitaev quasiparticles in the presence of a perturbing Heisenberg interaction as a Fock space localization phenomenon. We identify parameter regimes where Kitaev states are localized, fractal or delocalized in the Fock space of exact eigenstates, with the first two implying quasiparticle stability. Finite temperature calculations show that a vison gap, and a nonzero plaquette Wilson loop at low temperatures, both characteristic of the deconfined Kitaev spin liquid phase, persist far into the neighboring phase that has a concomitant stripy spin-density wave (SDW) order.…
We study the level statistics of a generalized Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model with two-body and one-body random interactions of finite range by exact diagonalization. Tuning the range of the one-body term, while keeping the two-body interaction sufficiently long-ranged, does not alter substantially the spectral correlations, which are still given by the random matrix prediction typical of a quantum chaotic system. However a transition to an insulating state, characterized by Poisson statistics, is observed by reducing the range of the two-body interaction. Close to the many-body metal-insulator…
What distinguishes trivial from topological superluids in interacting many-body systems where the number of particles is conserved? Building on a class of integrable pairing Hamiltonians, we present a number-conserving, interacting variation of the Kitaev model, the Richardson-Gaudin-Kitaev chain, that remains exactly solvable for periodic and antiperiodic boundary conditions. Our model allows us to identify fermionic parity switches that distinctively characterize topological superconductivity in interacting many-body systems. Although the Majorana zero-modes in this model have only a power-l…
We propose a scenario of realizing the toric code phase, which can be potentially utilized for fault-tolerant quantum computation, in candidate materials of Kitaev magnets. It is demonstrated that four-body interactions among Majorana fermions in the Kitaev spin liquid state, which are induced by applied magnetic fields as well as non-Kitaev-type exchange interactions, trigger a nematic phase transition of Majorana bonds without magnetic orders, accompanying the change of the Chern number from $\pm 1$ to zero. This gapful spin liquid state with zero Chern number is nothing but the toric code p…
Entanglement is one of the most important concepts in quantum physics. We review recent progress in understanding the quantum entanglement in many-body systems using large-$N$ solvable models: the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model and its generalizations. We present the study of entanglement entropy in the original SYK Model using three different approaches: the exact diagonalization, the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, and the path-integral representation. For coupled SYK models, the entanglement entropy shows linear growth and saturation at the thermal value. The saturation is related to r…
In most quantum sensing schemes, interactions between the constituent particles of the sensor are expected to lead to thermalisation and degraded sensitivity. However, recent theoretical and experimental work has shown that the phenomenon of quantum many-body scarring can slow down, or even prevent thermalisation. We show that scarring can be exploited for quantum sensing that is robust against certain strong interactions. In the ideal case of perfect scars with harmonic energy gaps, the optimal sensing time can diverge despite the strong interactions. We demonstrate the idea with two examples…
Based on the PXP model adapted for Rydberg-blockaded chains, we investigate dynamics of topological domain walls between different quantum many-body scar states of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry. It is found that, the domain walls not only possess oscillating features of scars but also manifest longstanding bipartite entanglement with exactly unchanged flip-flop phase difference, suggesting their potential as quantum information resource. A periodically driven field is exerted and the high-frequency drive gives rise to a phase transition from prethermalization to Floquet localization. In order to inv…
We consider the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model as an effective theory arising at the zero-dimensional boundary of a many-body localized, Fermionic symmetry protected topological (SPT) phase in one spatial dimension. The Fermions at the boundary are always fully interacting. We find that the boundary is thermalized and investigate how its boundary anomaly, dictated by the bulk SPT order, is encoded in the quantum chaotic eigenspectrum of the SYK model. We show that depending on the SPT symmetry class, the boundary many-body level statistics cycle in a systematic manner through those of the three…
Kitaev quantum spin liquid, massively quantum entangled states, is so scarce in nature that searching for new candidate systems remains a great challenge. Honeycomb heterostructure could be a promising route to realize and utilize such an exotic quantum phase by providing additional controllability of Hamiltonian and device compatibility, respectively. Here, we provide epitaxial honeycomb oxide thin film Na3Co2SbO6, a candidate of Kitaev quantum spin liquid proposed recently. We found a spin glass and antiferromagnetic ground states depending on Na stoichiometry, signifying not only the import…
The honeycomb lattice Kitaev model H_{K} with two kinds of Wen-Toric-code four-body interactions H_{WT} is investigated exactly using a new fermionization method, and the ground state phase diagram is obtained. Six kinds of three-body interactions are also considered. A Hamiltonian equivalent to the honeycomb lattice Kitaev model is also introduced. The fermionization method is generalized to two-dimensional systems, and the two-dimensional Jordan-Wigner transformation is obtained as a special case of this formula. The model H_{K}+H_{WT} is symmetric in four-dimensional space of coupling const…
Quantum many-body scarring is believed to be the mechanism behind long-lived coherent oscillations in interacting Rydberg atom chains. These persistent oscillations are due to the large overlap of the many-body scars with certain initial states. We show that the "effective dimension" is a useful measure for identifying non-thermalising initial states in many-body scarred systems. By minimising the effective dimension we find physically reasonable initial states of the Rydberg chain that lead to more pronounced and longer lived oscillations, accentuating the effect of the many-body scars on the…
Supersymmetry is a powerful concept in quantum many-body physics. It helps to illuminate ground state properties of complex quantum systems and gives relations between correlation functions. In this work, we show that the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, in its simplest form of Majorana fermions with random four-body interactions, is supersymmetric. In contrast to existing explicitly supersymmetric extensions of the model, the supersymmetry we find requires no relations between couplings. The type of supersymmetry and the structure of the supercharges are entirely set by the number of interacting Majo…
Quantum spin liquids have fascinated condensed matter physicists for decades because of their unusual properties such as spin fractionalization and long-range entanglement. Unlike conventional symmetry breaking the topological order underlying quantum spin liquids is hard to detect experimentally. Even theoretical models are scarce for which the ground state is established to be a quantum spin liquid. The Kitaev honeycomb model and its generalizations to other tri-coordinated lattices are chief counterexamples --- they are exactly solvable, harbor a variety of quantum spin liquid phases, and a…
The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model is an all-to-all interacting Majorana fermion model for many-body quantum chaos and the holographic correspondence. Here we construct fermionic all-to-all Floquet quantum circuits of random four-body gates designed to capture key features of SYK dynamics. Our circuits can be built using local ingredients in Majorana devices, namely charging-mediated interactions and braiding Majorana zero modes. This offers an analog-digital route to SYK quantum simulations that reconciles all-to-all interactions with the topological protection of Majorana zero modes, a key fe…
Many aspects of many-body localization (MBL) transitions remain elusive so far. Here, we propose a higher-dimensional generalization of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model and show that it exhibits a MBL transition. The model on a bipartite lattice has $N$ Majorana fermions with SYK interactions on each site of the $A$ sublattice and $M$ free Majorana fermions on each site the of $B$ sublattice, where $N$ and $M$ are large and finite. For $r$$\equiv$$M/N\!<\!r_c$=1, it describes a diffusive metal exhibiting maximal chaos. Remarkably, its diffusive constant $D$ vanishes [$D$$\propto$$ (r_c-r)^{1/…
Motivated by recent experimental observations of coherent many-body revivals in a constrained Rydberg atom chain, we construct a weak quasi-local deformation of the Rydberg blockade Hamiltonian, which makes the revivals virtually perfect. Our analysis suggests the existence of an underlying non-integrable Hamiltonian which supports an emergent SU(2)-spin dynamics within a small subspace of the many-body Hilbert space. We show that such perfect dynamics necessitates the existence of atypical, nonergodic energy eigenstates - quantum many-body scars. Furthermore, using these insights, we construc…
The complex Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (cSYK) model is a charge-conserving model of randomly interacting fermions. The interaction term can be chosen such that the model exhibits chiral symmetry. Then, depending on the charge sector and the number of interacting fermions, level spacing statistics suggests a fourfold categorization of the model into the three Wigner-Dyson symmetry classes. In this work, inspired by previous findings for the Majorana Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, we embed the symmetry classes of the cSYK model in the Altland-Zirnbauer framework and identify consequences of chiral symmetry ori…
The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, in its simplest form, describes $k$ Majorana fermions with random all-to-all four-body interactions. We consider the SYK model in the framework of a many-body Altland-Zirnbauer classification that sees the system as belonging to one of eight (real) symmetry classes depending on the value of $k\mod 8$. We show that, depending on the symmetry class, the system may support exact many-body zero modes with the symmetries also dictating whether these may have a nonzero contribution to Majorana fermions, i.e., single-particle weight. These zero modes appear in all b…
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 …
By using the variational Monte Carlo method, we study the magnetization process of the Kitaev honeycomb model in a magnetic field. Our trial wavefunction is a generalized Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer wave function with the Jastrow correlation factor, which exactly describes the ground state of the Kitaev model at zero magnetic field using the Jordan-Wigner (JW) transformation. We find that two phase transitions occur for the antiferromagnetic Kitaev coupling, while only one phase transition occurs for the ferromagnetic Kitaev coupling. For the antiferromagnetic Kitaev coupling, we also find that …
We generally expect quantum systems to thermalize and satisfy the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH), which states that finite energy density eigenstates are thermal. However, some systems, such as many-body localized systems and systems with quantum many-body scars, violate ETH and have high-energy athermal eigenstates. In systems with scars, most eigenstates thermalize, but a few atypical scar states do not. Scar states can give rise to a periodic revival when time-evolving particular initial product states, which can be detected experimentally. Recently, a family of spin Hamiltonian…
Symmetry protected quantum many body scars through half-gauging
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University（冲绳科学技术大学院大学）；National Tsing Hua University（国立清华大学）；National Center for Theoretical Sciences（国家理论科学中心）；Academia Sinica（中央研究院）
We elucidate the deep connection between the PXP model, which is a standard model of quantum many-body scars, and the AKLT Hamiltonian. Using the framework of embedded Hamiltonians, we establish the connection between the PXP Hamiltonian and the AKLT Hamiltonian, which clarifies the reason why the PXP Hamiltonian has nonthermal energy eigenstates similar to the AKLT state. Through this analysis, we find that the presence of such nonthermal energy eigenstates reflects the symmetry in the AKLT Hamiltonian.
We study weak ergodicity breaking in a one-dimensional, nonintegrable spin-1 XY model. We construct for it an exact, highly excited eigenstate, which despite its large energy density, can be represented analytically by a finite bond-dimension matrix product state (MPS) with area-law entanglement. Upon a quench to a finite Zeeman field, the state undergoes periodic dynamics with perfect many-body revivals, in stark contrast to other generic initial states which instead rapidly thermalize. This dynamics can be completely understood in terms of the evolution of entangled virtual spin-1/2 degrees …
A quantum many-body scar system usually contains a special non-thermal subspace (approximately) decoupled from the rest of the Hilbert space. In this work, we propose a general structure called deformed symmetric spaces for the decoupled subspaces hosting quantum many-body scars, which are irreducible sectors of simple Lie groups transformed by matrix-product operators (or projected entangled pair operators), of which the entanglement entropies are proved to obey sub-volume-law scaling and thus violate the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. A deformed symmetric space, in general, is require…
Although entanglement is a key resource for quantum-enhanced metrology, not all entanglement is useful. For example in the process of many-body thermalisation, bipartite entanglement grows rapidly, naturally saturating to a volume law. This type of entanglement generation is ubiquitous in nature but has no known application in most quantum technologies. The generation, stabilisation and exploitation of genuine multipartite entanglement, on the other hand, is far more elusive yet highly desirable for metrological applications. Recently it has been shown that quantum many-body scars can have ext…
We introduce a family of non-integrable 1D lattice models that feature robust periodic revivals under a global quench from certain initial product states, thus generalizing the phenomenon of many-body scarring recently observed in Rydberg atom quantum simulators. Our construction is based on a systematic embedding of the single-site unitary dynamics into a kinetically-constrained many-body system. We numerically demonstrate that this construction yields new families of models with robust wave-function revivals, and it includes kinetically-constrained quantum clock models as a special case. We …
Following the recent observation of wave function revivals in large Rydberg atom quantum simulators, much effort has focused on understanding the emergence of many-body scars in non-integrable quantum systems. Here we explore the origin of scarred wavefunction revivals in a family of models obtained by deforming the graph adjacency matrix of the PXP model - the effective model of Rydberg atoms in the strong Rydberg blockade regime. We consider deformations that either enhance the Rydberg constraint, ultimately resulting in an effective tight-binding model of two hypercubes joined at a single v…
We revisit the $η$-pairing states in Hubbard models and explore their connections to quantum many-body scars to discover a universal scars mechanism. $η$-pairing occurs due to an algebraic structure known as a Spectrum Generating Algebra (SGA), giving rise to equally spaced towers of eigenstates in the spectrum. We generalize the original $η$-pairing construction and show that several Hubbard-like models on arbitrary graphs exhibit SGAs, including ones with disorder and spin-orbit coupling. We further define a Restricted Spectrum Generating Algebra (RSGA) and give examples of perturbations to …
The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) is a conjecture on the nature of isolated quantum systems that guarantees the thermal behavior of subsystems when it is satisfied. ETH has been tested in various forms on a number of local many-body interacting systems. Here we examine the validity of ETH in a class of nonlocal disordered many-body interacting systems --- the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev Majorana (SYK) models --- that may be tuned from chaotic behavior to integrability. Our analysis shows that SYK$_4$ (with quartic couplings), which is maximally chaotic in the large system size limit, satisf…
Certain wave functions of non-interacting quantum chaotic systems can exhibit "scars" in the fabric of their real-space density profile. Quantum scarred wave functions concentrate in the vicinity of unstable periodic classical trajectories. We introduce the notion of many-body quantum scars which reflect the existence of a subset of special many-body eigenstates concentrated in certain parts of the Hilbert space. We demonstrate the existence of scars in the Fibonacci chain -- the one- dimensional model with a constrained local Hilbert space realized in the 51 Rydberg atom quantum simulator [H.…
Quantum many-body scar states are special eigenstates of nonintegrable models with distinctive entanglement features that give rise to infinitely long-lived coherent dynamics under quantum quenches from certain initial states. We elaborate on a construction of quantum many-body scar states in which they emerge from Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) states in systems with two layers, wherein the two layers are maximally entangled. We apply this construction to spin systems as well as systems of itinerant fermions and bosons and demonstrate how symmetries can be harnessed to enhance its versatility.…
