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Updated: Feb 19, 2026
06:42
Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
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Thermal inclusions: how one spin can destroy a many-body localized phase
Pedro Ponte1,2, C R Laumann3, David A Huse4
1Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 2Y5.
Summary
Many-body localized (MBL) systems challenge statistical mechanics. This study reveals MBL systems become unstable at a vanishing scale, showing a discontinuous transition with heterogeneous entanglement in eigenstates.
Area of Science:
- Quantum physics
- Condensed matter physics
- Statistical mechanics
Background:
- Many-body localized (MBL) systems defy statistical mechanics by not equilibrating.
- Key MBL properties, like stability and transition dynamics, are poorly understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate MBL system stability and the transition to thermalizing behavior.
- Analyze a central spin model with localized bits and random fields.
Main Methods:
- Perturbative mapping to bond percolation on the hypercube for small interactions (J).
- Numerical exact diagonalization of the full many-body system.
- Analysis of single-site eigenstate entanglement entropies.
Main Results:
- A transition from MBL to a delocalized phase occurs at a vanishing scale Jc(N) ~ 1/N.
- Entanglement entropies show bimodal distributions ('on'/'off' localized bits) in the transition region.
- Evidence for a heterogeneous, discontinuous transition in single-site observables.
Conclusions:
- The MBL phase is unstable in systems with short-range interactions and quenched randomness in high, finite dimensions.
- The findings challenge the universality of MBL behavior and provide insights into non-equilibrium quantum dynamics.
Keywords:
central spin modeleigenstate thermalization hypothesismany-body localizationnon-ergodic delocalized phasethermal inclusionsthermalizationMore Related Videos
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