A stabilization mechanism for many-body localization in two dimensions

Abstract

Experiments in cold atom systems see almost identical signatures of many body localization (MBL) in both one-dimensional ($d=1$) and two-dimensional ($d=2$) systems despite the thermal avalanche hypothesis showing that the MBL phase is unstable for $d>1$. Underpinning the thermal avalanche argument is the assumption of exponential localization of local integrals of motion (LIOMs). In this work we demonstrate that addition of a confining potential -- as is typical in experimental setups -- allows a non-interacting disordered system to have super-exponentially (Gaussian) localized wavefunctions, and an interacting disordered system to undergo a localization transition. Moreover, we show that Gaussian localization of MBL LIOMs shifts the quantum avalanche critical dimension from $d=1$ to $d=2$, potentially bridging the divide between the experimental demonstrations of MBL in these systems and existing theoretical arguments that claim that such demonstrations are impossible.

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• Engineering many-body quantum Hamiltonians with non-ergodic properties using quantum Monte Carlo
• Numerical Study of Disordered Noninteracting Chains Coupled to a Local Lindblad Bath
• Quantum Avalanches in ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$-preserving Interacting Ising Majorana Chain