2020/01/31 by Ángel L. Corps, Rafael A. Molina, A. Relaño +1
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Ergodic theory #Materials science #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Model Reduction and Neural Networks #Momentum (technical analysis) #Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum mechanics #Range (aeronautics) #Spin (aerodynamics) #Statistical physics #Thermalisation #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.stat-mech #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.102.014201
published as Phys. Rev. B 102, 014201 (2020) · 14 pages, 9 figures. Accepted preprint; to appear in Phys. Rev. B
arxiv created 2020/06/21 · openalex publication_date 2020/07/01 · arxiv updated 2020/07/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the ergodic side of the many-body localization transition in its standard model, the disordered Heisenberg quantum spin chain. We show that the Thouless energy, extracted from long-range spectral statistics and the power-spectrum of the full momentum distribution fluctuations, is not large enough to guarantee thermalization. We find that both estimates coincide and behave nonmonotonically, exhibiting a strong peak at an intermediate value of the disorder. Furthermore, we show that nonthermalizing initial conditions occur well within the ergodic phase with larger probability than expected. Finally, we propose a mechanism, driven by the Thouless energy and the presence of anomalous events, for the transition to the localized phase.