Quantum jamming brings quantum mechanics to macroscopic scales

Abstract

A quantum spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ chain with an axial symmetry is normally described by quasiparticles associated with the spins oriented along the axis of rotation. Kinetic constraints can enrich such a description by setting apart different species of quasiparticles, which can get stuck at high enough density, realising the quantum analogue of jamming. We identify a family of interactions satisfying simple kinetic constraints and consider generic translationally invariant models built up from them. We study dynamics following a local unjamming perturbation in a jammed state. We show that they can be mapped into dynamics of ordinary unconstrained systems, but the nonlocality of the mapping changes the scales at which the phenomena manifest themselves. Scattering of quasiparticles, formation of bound states, eigenstate localisation become all visible at macroscopic scales. Depending on whether a symmetry is present or not, the microscopic details of the jammed state turn out to have either a marginal or a strong effect. In the former case or when the initial state is almost homogeneous, we show that even a product state is turned into a macroscopic quantum state.

18 pages, 3 figures, v2: minor revision

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• Many-Body Physics with Ultracold Gases
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• Single-Spin Addressing in an Atomic Mott Insulator
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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Disorder-Order Interface Propagating over the Ferromagnetic Ground State in the Transverse Field Ising Chain
• Opening Krylov space to access all-time dynamics via dynamical symmetries
• Efficient Eigenstate Preparation in an Integrable Model with Hilbert Space Fragmentation
• Transport in a System with a Tower of Quantum Many-Body Scars
• Macroscopic Quantum States and Universal Correlations in a Disorder-Order Interface Propagating over a 1D Ground State