Critically slow operator dynamics in constrained many-body systems
arXiv:2106.05292 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.235301
Abstract
The far-from-equilibrium dynamics of generic interacting quantum systems is characterized by a handful of universal guiding principles, among them the ballistic spreading of initially local operators. Here, we show that in certain constrained many-body systems the structure of conservation laws can cause a drastic modification of this universal behavior. As an example, we study operator growth characterized by out-of-time-order correlations (OTOCs) in a dipole-conserving fracton chain. We identify a critical point with sub-ballistically moving OTOC front, that separates a ballistic from a dynamically frozen phase. This critical point is tied to an underlying localization transition and we use its associated scaling properties to derive an effective description of the moving operator front via a biased random walk with long waiting times. We support our arguments numerically using classically simulable automaton circuits.
4+2 pages, 4+3 figures; close to published version
References in corpus (6)
- Thermalization and its mechanism for generic isolated quantum systems
- Local stabilizer codes in three dimensions without string logical operators
- Higher-Spin Witten Effect and Two-Dimensional Fracton Phases
- Universal subdiffusion in strongly tilted many-body systems
- Emergent Fracton Dynamics in a Non-Planar Dimer Model
- Butterfly Effect and Spatial Structure of Information Spreading in a Chaotic Cellular Automaton
Cited by in corpus (13)
- Random Quantum Circuits
- Quantum Many-Body Scars and Hilbert Space Fragmentation: A Review of Exact Results
- Scrambling Dynamics and Out-of-Time Ordered Correlators in Quantum Many-Body Systems: a Tutorial
- Fractonic Luttinger Liquids and Supersolids in a Constrained Bose-Hubbard Model
- Measurement-induced phase transition in a classical, chaotic many-body system
- Exact solution for the filling-induced thermalization transition in a 1D fracton system
- Out-of-Time-Ordered Crystals and Fragmentation
- Emergent tracer dynamics in constrained quantum systems
- Arresting classical many-body chaos by kinetic constraints
- Height-conserving quantum dimer models
- Emergent Symmetry in Brownian SYK Models and Charge Dependent Scrambling
- Charge transport, information scrambling and quantum operator-coherence in a many-body system with U(1) symmetry
- Exact solution of the minimalist Stark many body localization problem in terms of spin pair hopping