Minimal nonintegrable models with three-site interactions

Abstract

We study integrability breaking in translationally invariant spin-$1/2$ chains with genuine three-site interactions. Using a two-qubit composite representation, we prove that the deformed Fredkin spin chain is nonintegrable for any nonzero deformation parameter, although its Hamiltonian decomposes into coupled integrable building blocks. We then extract the minimal injective models, defined as the simplest models needed for a rigorous nonintegrability test, from the Hamiltonian density of the deformed Fredkin spin chain. Among the sixteen such models, six satisfy the Reshetikhin condition and are integrable, while two satisfy Hokkyo's criterion and are nonintegrable away from special coefficient values. Returning to one-site translation-invariant spin-$1/2$ chains leaves four genuine three-site models: two integrable models and two generically nonintegrable models. These results give a compact classification of minimal three-site models obtained from the deformed Fredkin spin chain and identify a local mechanism by which coupling individually integrable structures can destroy integrability beyond nearest-neighbor interactions.

18 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables