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Journal ArticleDOI

Rare‐region effects and dynamics near the many‐body localization transition

TL;DR: In this article, the authors review recent progress in understanding rare-region effects, and discuss some of the open questions associated with them: in particular, whether and in what circumstances a single rare thermal region can destabilize the many-body localized phase.
Abstract: The low-frequency response of systems near the many-body localization phase transition, on either side of the transition, is dominated by contributions from rare regions that are locally “in the other phase”, i.e., rare localized regions in a system that is typically thermal, or rare thermal regions in a system that is typically localized. Rare localized regions affect the properties of the thermal phase, especially in one dimension, by acting as bottlenecks for transport and the growth of entanglement, whereas rare thermal regions in the localized phase act as local “baths” and dominate the low-frequency response of the MBL phase. We review recent progress in understanding these rare-region effects, and discuss some of the open questions associated with them: in particular, whether and in what circumstances a single rare thermal region can destabilize the many-body localized phase.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a basic introduction to the topic of many-body localization, using the simple example of a quantum spin chain that allows us to illustrate several of the properties of this phase.

547 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
13 Apr 2018-Science
TL;DR: Nine superconducting qubits are used to demonstrate a promising path toward quantum supremacy and the scaling of errors and output with the number of qubits is explored in a five- to nine-qubit device.
Abstract: A key step toward demonstrating a quantum system that can address difficult problems in physics and chemistry will be performing a computation beyond the capabilities of any classical computer, thus achieving so-called quantum supremacy. In this study, we used nine superconducting qubits to demonstrate a promising path toward quantum supremacy. By individually tuning the qubit parameters, we were able to generate thousands of distinct Hamiltonian evolutions and probe the output probabilities. The measured probabilities obey a universal distribution, consistent with uniformly sampling the full Hilbert space. As the number of qubits increases, the system continues to explore the exponentially growing number of states. Extending these results to a system of 50 qubits has the potential to address scientific questions that are beyond the capabilities of any classical computer.

419 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a superconducting qubit was used to generate thousands of unique Hamiltonian evolutions and probe the output probabilities, and the measured probabilities obey a universal distribution, consistent with uniformly sampling the full Hilbert space.
Abstract: Fundamental questions in chemistry and physics may never be answered due to the exponential complexity of the underlying quantum phenomena. A desire to overcome this challenge has sparked a new industry of quantum technologies with the promise that engineered quantum systems can address these hard problems. A key step towards demonstrating such a system will be performing a computation beyond the capabilities of any classical computer, achieving so-called quantum supremacy. Here, using 9 superconducting qubits, we demonstrate an immediate path towards quantum supremacy. By individually tuning the qubit parameters, we are able to generate thousands of unique Hamiltonian evolutions and probe the output probabilities. The measured probabilities obey a universal distribution, consistent with uniformly sampling the full Hilbert-space. As the number of qubits in the algorithm is varied, the system continues to explore the exponentially growing number of states. Combining these large datasets with techniques from machine learning allows us to construct a model which accurately predicts the measured probabilities. We demonstrate an application of these algorithms by systematically increasing the disorder and observing a transition from delocalized states to localized states. By extending these results to a system of 50 qubits, we hope to address scientific questions that are beyond the capabilities of any classical computer.

376 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
19 Apr 2019-Science
TL;DR: In this paper, a many-body-localized system in a disordered Bose-Hubbard chain was realized and its entanglement properties were characterized through particle fluctuations and correlations.
Abstract: An interacting quantum system that is subject to disorder may cease to thermalize owing to localization of its constituents, thereby marking the breakdown of thermodynamics. The key to understanding this phenomenon lies in the system’s entanglement, which is experimentally challenging to measure. We realize such a many-body–localized system in a disordered Bose-Hubbard chain and characterize its entanglement properties through particle fluctuations and correlations. We observe that the particles become localized, suppressing transport and preventing the thermalization of subsystems. Notably, we measure the development of nonlocal correlations, whose evolution is consistent with a logarithmic growth of entanglement entropy, the hallmark of many-body localization. Our work experimentally establishes many-body localization as a qualitatively distinct phenomenon from localization in noninteracting, disordered systems.

261 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work experimentally establishes many-body localization as a qualitatively distinct phenomenon from localization in noninteracting, disordered systems in a disordered Bose-Hubbard chain.
Abstract: An interacting quantum system that is subject to disorder may cease to thermalize due to localization of its constituents, thereby marking the breakdown of thermodynamics. The key to our understanding of this phenomenon lies in the system's entanglement, which is experimentally challenging to measure. We realize such a many-body-localized system in a disordered Bose-Hubbard chain and characterize its entanglement properties through particle fluctuations and correlations. We observe that the particles become localized, suppressing transport and preventing the thermalization of subsystems. Notably, we measure the development of non-local correlations, whose evolution is consistent with a logarithmic growth of entanglement entropy - the hallmark of many-body localization. Our work experimentally establishes many-body localization as a qualitatively distinct phenomenon from localization in non-interacting, disordered systems.

246 citations

References
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Book ChapterDOI

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08 Dec 2001-BMJ
TL;DR: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one, which seems an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.
Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

33,785 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review of recent experimental and theoretical progress concerning many-body phenomena in dilute, ultracold gases is presented, focusing on effects beyond standard weakcoupling descriptions, such as the Mott-Hubbard transition in optical lattices, strongly interacting gases in one and two dimensions, or lowest-Landau-level physics in quasi-two-dimensional gases in fast rotation.
Abstract: This paper reviews recent experimental and theoretical progress concerning many-body phenomena in dilute, ultracold gases. It focuses on effects beyond standard weak-coupling descriptions, such as the Mott-Hubbard transition in optical lattices, strongly interacting gases in one and two dimensions, or lowest-Landau-level physics in quasi-two-dimensional gases in fast rotation. Strong correlations in fermionic gases are discussed in optical lattices or near-Feshbach resonances in the BCS-BEC crossover.

6,601 citations

Book
29 Aug 2002
TL;DR: Probability in classical and quantum physics has been studied in this article, where classical probability theory and stochastic processes have been applied to quantum optical systems and non-Markovian dynamics in physical systems.
Abstract: PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PART 1: PROBABILITY IN CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS 1. Classical probability theory and stochastic processes 2. Quantum Probability PART 2: DENSITY MATRIX THEORY 3. Quantum Master Equations 4. Decoherence PART 3: STOCHASTIC PROCESSES IN HILBERT SPACE 5. Probability distributions on Hilbert space 6. Stochastic dynamics in Hilbert space 7. The stochastic simulation method 8. Applications to quantum optical systems PART 4: NON-MARKOVIAN QUANTUM PROCESSES 9. Projection operator techniques 10. Non-Markovian dynamics in physical systems PART 5: RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM PROCESSES 11. Measurements in relativistic quantum mechanics 12. Open quantum electrodynamics

6,325 citations