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The one-dimensional flat-band ferromagnetic Tasaki model exhibits spontaneous symmetry breaking from ${\rm SU}(2)$ to ${\rm U}(1)$ with one type-B Goldstone mode, featuring that the highest weight state is entangled at quarter filling, but there is always a choice to keep the highest weight state unentangled away from quarter filling. It is found that the ground-state degeneracies under both periodic and open boundary conditions constitute essentially the Fibonacci sequences, behaving asymptotically as the golden spiral - a self-similar geometric object. A set of orthonormal basis states are generated from the repeated action of the lowering operator of the symmetry group ${\rm SU}(2)$ on the highest weight state at a specific filling. In particular, it is possible to construct the orthonormal basis states reflecting an abstract fractal underlying the ground-state subspace, which are permutation-invariant away from quarter filling, but not at quarter filling. As a consequence, there exists a singularity that accounts for the emergence of the saturated flat-band ferromagnetism at quarter filling. We perform a systematic finite system-size scaling analysis of the entanglement entropy, thus confirming that it scales logarithmically with the block size in the thermodynamic limit, with the prefactor being half the number of type-B Goldstone modes, for the orthonormal basis states at and away from quarter filling., Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables

A generic scheme is proposed to investigate the entanglement entropy for a type of scale-invariant states, valid for orthonormal basis states in the ground state subspace of quantum many-body systems undergoing spontaneous symmetry breaking with type-B Goldstone modes in two spatial dimensions and beyond. It is argued that a contribution from the area law to the entanglement entropy is absent, since the closeness to the boundary between a subsystem and its environment is not well-defined, given that a permutation symmetry group with respect to the unit cells of degenerate ground state wave functions emerges. Three physical constraints imposed lead to a universal finite-system size scaling function in the dominant logarithmic contribution to the entanglement entropy. As a result, an abstract fractal underlying the ground state subspace is revealed, characterized by the fractal dimension. The latter in turn is identical to the number of type-B Goldstone modes for the orthonormal basis states. The prediction is numerically confirmed for the ${\rm SU}(2)$ spin-$s$ ferromagnetic Heisenberg model, the ${\rm SU}(2s+1)$ ferromagnetic model, and the staggered ${\rm SU}(3)$ spin-1 ferromagnetic biquadratic model., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures

Numerical methods based on matrix product states (MPSs) are currently the de facto standard for calculating the ground state properties of (quasi-)one-dimensional quantum many-body systems. While the properties of the low-lying excitations in such systems are often studied in this MPS framework through _dynamics_ by means of time-evolution simulations, we can also look at their _statics_ by directly calculating eigenstates corresponding to these excitations. The so-called MPS excitation ansatz is a powerful method for finding such eigenstates with a single-particle character in the thermodynamic limit. Although this excitation ansatz has been used quite extensively, a general method for calculating expectation values for these states is lacking in the literature: we aim to fill this gap by presenting a recursive algorithm to calculate arbitrary observables expressed as matrix product operators. This method concisely encapsulates existing methods for -- as well as extensions to -- the excitation ansatz, such as excitations with a larger spatial support and multi-particle excitations, and is robust to handle further innovations. We demonstrate the versatility of our method by studying the low-lying excitations in the spin-1 Heisenberg chain and the one-dimensional Hubbard model, looking at how the excitations converge in the former, while in the latter, we present a novel method of targeting single-particle excitations inside of a continuum by minimizing the energy _variance_ rather than the energy itself. We hope that this technique will foster further advancements with the excitation ansatz.

The one-dimensional spin-$s$ ${\rm SU}(2)$ ferromagnetic Heisenberg model, as a paradigmatic example for spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) with type-B Goldstone modes (GMs), is expected to exhibit an abstract fractal underlying the ground state subspace. This intrinsic abstract fractal is here revealed from a systematic investigation into the entanglement entropy for a linear combination of factorized (unentangled) ground states on a fractal decomposable into a set of the Cantor sets. The entanglement entropy scales logarithmically with the block size, with the prefactor being half the fractal dimension of a fractal, as long as the norm for the linear combination scales as the square root of the number of the self-similar building blocks kept at each step $k$ for a fractal, under an assumption that the maximum absolute value of the coefficients in the linear combination is chosen to be around one, and the coefficients in the linear combination are almost constants within the building blocks. Actually, the set of the fractal dimensions for all the Cantor sets forms a {\it dense} subset in the interval $[0,1]$. As a consequence, the ground state subspace is separated into a disjoint union of countably infinitely many regions, each of which is labeled by a decomposable fractal. Hence, the interpretation of the prefactor as half the fractal dimension is valid for any support beyond a fractal, which in turn leads to the identification of the fractal dimension with the number of type-B GMs for the orthonormal basis states. Our argument may be extended to any quantum many-body systems undergoing SSB with type-B GMs., Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures

Dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) have been established as a rigorous framework for investigating far-from-equilibrium quantum many-body criticality. Although initially thought to be trivially connected to an order parameter flipping sign, a certain kind of \textit{anomalous} DQPTs have been discovered that exhibit no direct connection to the order parameter and have been shown to arise in the presence of confinement. Here, we show in two paradigmatic models how the onset time of anomalous DQPTs is directly connected, through a power law, to the meson mass in the confined regime of a global symmetry-broken phase. This relation becomes more prominent the closer the initial parameters are to the equilibrium quantum critical point, where a relativistic quantum field theory emerges. Our findings draw a direct connection between mesons and anomalous DQPTs, highlighting the power of the latter to classify exotic far-from-equilibrium criticality., Comment: $7+2$ pages, $4+4$ figures

Exact matrix product state representations for a type of scale-invariant states are presented, which describe highly degenerate ground states arising from spontaneous symmetry breaking with type-B Goldstone modes in one-dimensional quantum many-body systems. As a possible application, such a representation offers a convenient but powerful means for evaluating the norms of highly degenerate ground states. This in turn allows us to perform a universal finite system-size scaling analysis of the entanglement entropy. Moreover, this approach vividly explains why the entanglement entropy does not depend on what types of the boundary conditions are adopted, either periodic boundary conditions or open boundary conditions. Illustrative examples include the ${\rm SU}(2)$ spin-$s$ Heisenberg ferromagnetic model, the ${\rm SU}(2s+1)$ ferromagnetic model, and the staggered ${\rm SU}(3)$ spin-1 ferromagnetic biquadratic model., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables

Quantum many-body scarring (QMBS) has emerged as an intriguing paradigm of weak ergodicity breaking in nonintegrable quantum many-body models, particularly lattice gauge theories (LGTs) in $1+1$ spacetime dimensions. However, an open question is whether QMBS exists in higher-dimensional LGTs with dynamical matter. Given that nonergodic dynamics in $d{=}1$ spatial dimension tend to vanish in $d{>}1$, it is important to probe this question. Using matrix product state techniques for both finite and infinite systems, we show that QMBS occurs in the $2{+}1$D $\mathrm{U}(1)$ quantum link model (QLM), as evidenced in persistent coherent oscillations in local observables, a marked slowdown in the growth of the bipartite entanglement entropy, and revivals in the fidelity. Interestingly, we see that QMBS is more robust when the matter degrees of freedom are bosonic rather than fermionic. Our results further shed light on the intimate connection between gauge invariance and QMBS, and highlight the persistence of scarring in higher spatial dimensions. Our findings can be tested in near-term analog and digital quantum simulators, and we demonstrate their accessibility on a recently proposed cold-atom analog quantum simulator., Comment: $7+2$ pages, $4+4$ figures. v2 includes longer evolution times and updated references

Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) with type-B Goldstone modes is investigated in the macroscopically degenerate phase for a quantum spin-1 many-body system with competing dimer and trimer interactions. The SSB involves three distinct patterns. The first occurs at the dimer point, with the pattern from staggered ${\rm SU}(3)$ to ${\rm U}(1)\times{\rm U}(1)$. The second occurs at the trimer point, with the pattern from uniform ${\rm SU}(3)$ to ${\rm U}(1)\times{\rm U}(1)$. The third occurs in the dimer-trimer regime, with the pattern from uniform ${\rm SU}(2)$ to ${\rm U}(1)$. The number of type-B Goldstone modes is thus two, two and one for the three patterns, respectively. The ground state degeneracies arising from the three patterns are exponential with the system size, which may be recognized as sequences of integers relevant to self-similar logarithmic spirals. This in turn is attributed to the presence of an emergent symmetry operation tailored to a specific degenerate ground state. As a consequence, the residual entropy is non-zero, which measures the disorder present in a unit cell of highly degenerate ground state generated from a generalized highest weight state. An exact Schmidt decomposition exists for the highly degenerate ground states, thus exposing the self-similarities underlying an abstract fractal, described by the fractal dimension. The latter is extracted from performing a universal finite system-size scaling analysis of the entanglement entropy, which is identical to the number of type-B Goldstone modes. The model under investigation thus accommodates an exotic scale invariant quantum state of matter., Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables

In a recent Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 246402 (2023)], Gleis, Li, and von Delft present an algorithm for expanding the bond dimension of a Matrix Product State wave function, giving accuracy similar to 2-site DMRG, but computationally more efficient, closer to the performance of 1-site DMRG. The Controlled Bond Expansion (CBE) algorithm uses the Hamiltonian projected onto two sites, and then further projected onto the two-site tangent space, to extract a set of $k$ vectors that are used to expand the basis between the two sites. CBE achieves this with a complicated sequence of five singular value decompositions (SVDs), in order to project onto the 2-site tangent space and reduce the bond dimension of the tensor network such that the contraction can be done in time $O(dwD^3)$. In this Comment, we show that (1) the projection onto the 2-site tangent space is unnecessary, and is generally not helpful; (2) the sequence of 5 SVDs can be replaced by a single $QR$ decomposition (optionally with one SVD as well), making use of the randomized SVD (RSVD) with high accuracy and significantly improved efficiency, scaling as $O(dwkD^2)$ i.e., the most expensive operations are only quadratic in the bond dimension $D$ and linear in the number of expansion vectors $k$; (3) several statements about the variational properties of the CBE algorithm are incorrect, and the variational properties are essentially identical to existing algorithms including 2-site DMRG and single-site subspace expansion (3S); (4) a similar RSVD approach can be applied to the 3S algorithm, which leads to many advantages over CBE, especially in systems with long range interactions. We also make some comments on the benchmarking MPS algorithms, and the overall computational efficiency with respect to the accuracy of the calculation., Comment: Added some references; added appendix C

Confinement is an intriguing phenomenon prevalent in condensed matter and high-energy physics. Exploring its effect on the far-from-equilibrium criticality of quantum many-body systems is of great interest both from a fundamental and technological point of view. Here, we employ large-scale uniform matrix product state calculations to show that a qualitative change in the type of dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) accompanies the confinement-deconfinement transition in three paradigmatic models -- the power-law interacting quantum Ising chain, the two-dimensional quantum Ising model, and the spin-$S$ $\mathrm{U}(1)$ quantum link model. By tuning a confining parameter in these models, it is found that \textit{branch} (\textit{manifold}) DQPTs arise as a signature of (de)confinement. Whereas manifold DQPTs are associated with a sign change of the order parameter, their branch counterparts are not, but rather occur even when the order parameter exhibits considerably constrained dynamics. Our conclusions can be tested in modern quantum-simulation platforms, such as ion-trap setups and cold-atom experiments of gauge theories., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

It is found that the staggered $\rm SU(4)$ ferromagnetic spin-orbital model accommodates highly degenerate ground states arising from spontaneous symmetry breaking with type-B Goldstone modes. The spontaneous symmetry breaking pattern is ${\rm SU(4)} \rightarrow {\rm U(1)} \times {\rm U(1)} \times {\rm U(1)}$, with three type-B Goldstone modes. An abstract fractal underlies the ground state subspace with the fractal dimension identified with the number of type-B Goldstone modes. This connection is established by evaluating the entanglement entropy, which exhibits a universal finite system-size scaling behaviour. The latter in turn implies that the entanglement entropy scales logarithmically with the block size in the thermodynamic limit. In addition, the ground state degeneracies, depending on the boundary conditions adopted, constitute the two Fibonacci-Lucas sequences. In the limit of large system size their asymptotic forms become a self-similar logarithmic spiral. As a result, the model has a non-zero residual entropy $S_{\!r} = -2 \ln R $, where $R=(\! \sqrt{6}-\!\sqrt{2})/2$., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2302.13126

A generic scheme is proposed to perform a finite-entanglement scaling analysis for scale-invariant states, which appear to be highly degenerate ground states arising from spontaneous symmetry breaking with type-B Goldstone modes. This allows us to extract the number of type-B Goldstone modes and the dynamical critical exponent, in combination with a finite block-size scaling analysis, from numerical simulations of quantum many-body systems in the context of tensor network representations. The number of type-B Goldstone modes is identical to the fractal dimension, thus reflecting an abstract fractal underlying the ground state subspace. As illustrative examples, we investigate the spin-$s$ Heisenberg ferromagnetic model, the $\rm{SU}(3)$ ferromagnetic model and the $\rm{SO}(4)$ spin-orbital model., Comment: 14 pages, 24 figures, 11 tables

We propose a definition of wavefunction "branchings": quantum superpositions which can't be feasibly distinguished from the corresponding mixed state, even under time evolution. Our definition is largely independent of interpretations, requiring only that it takes many more local gates to swap branches than to distinguish them. We give several examples of states admitting such branch decompositions. Under our definition, we show that attempts to get relative-phase information between branches will fail without frequent active error correction, that branches are effectively the opposite of good error-correcting codes, that branches effectively only grow further apart in time under natural evolution, that branches tend to absorb spatial entanglement, that branching is stronger in the presence of conserved quantities, and that branching implies effective irreversibility. Identifying these branch decompositions in many-body quantum states could shed light on the emergence of classicality, provide a metric for experimental tests at the quantum/ classical boundary, and allow for longer numerical time evolution simulations. We see this work as a generalization of the basic ideas of environmentally-induced decoherence to situations with no clear system/ environment split., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures; Added more references on quantum error correction with symmetries

Quantum link models (QLMs) offer the realistic prospect for the practical implementation of lattice quantum electrodynamics (QED) on modern quantum simulators, and they provide a venue for exploring various nonergodic phenomena relevant to quantum many-body physics. In these models, gauge and electric fields are represented by spin-$S$ operators. So far, large-scale realizations of QLMs have been restricted to $S=1/2$ representations, whereas the lattice-QED limit is approached at $S\to\infty$. Here, we present a bosonic mapping for the representation of gauge and electric fields with effective spin-$S$ operators for arbitrarily large values of $S$. Based on this mapping, we then propose an experimental scheme for the realization of a large-scale spin-$1$ $\mathrm{U}(1)$ QLM using spinless bosons in an optical superlattice. Using perturbation theory and infinite matrix product state calculations, which work directly in the thermodynamic limit, we demonstrate the faithfulness of the mapping and stability of gauge invariance throughout all accessible evolution times. We further demonstrate the potential of our proposed quantum simulator to address relevant high-energy physics by probing the (de)confinement of an electron--positron pair by tuning the gauge coupling. Our work provides an essential step towards gauge-theory quantum simulators in the quantum-field-theory limit., Comment: $15$ pages, $8$ figures

A universal finite system-size scaling analysis of the entanglement entropy is presented for highly degenerate ground states arising from spontaneous symmetry breaking with type-B Goldstone modes in exactly solvable one-dimensional quantum many-body systems. These states appear to be scale-invariant, but not conformally invariant. Our findings are based on a physical argument, imposing three constraints on the entanglement entropy, in addition to further confirmation from an asymptotic analysis of the entanglement entropy for the ${\rm SU}(2)$ spin-$1/2$ ferromagnetic states. The resulting universal scaling form is demonstrated for three fundamental models -- the ${\rm SU}(2)$ spin-$s$ Heisenberg ferromagnetic model, the ${\rm SU}(N+1)$ ferromagnetic model, and the staggered ${\rm SU}(3)$ spin-1 ferromagnetic biquadratic model. The results point towards a classification for distinct types of scale-invariant states, relevant to a complete classification of quantum states of matter., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We introduce a systematic construction of higher-order matrix product operator (MPO) approximations of the time evolution operator for generic (short and long range) one-dimensional Hamiltonians. We demonstrate the utility of our construction, by showing an order of magnitude speedup in simulation cost compared to conventional first-order MPO time evolution schemes.

Ferromagnetic ground states have often been overlooked in comparison to seemingly more interesting antiferromagnetic ground states. However, both the physical and mathematical structure of ferromagnetic ground states are particularly rich. We show that the highly degenerate and highly entangled ground states of the ferromagnetic spin-1 biquadratic model are scale invariant, originating from spontaneous symmetry breaking from ${\rm SU}(3)$ to ${\rm U}(1)\times {\rm U}(1)$ with two type-B Goldstone modes. The ground state degeneracies are characterized as the Fibonacci-Lucas sequences -- an ancient mathematical gem, under open and periodic boundary conditions, with the residual entropy being non-zero. This implies that the ground state degeneracies for this model are asymptotically the golden spiral. In addition, sequences of degenerate ground states generated from highest and generalized highest weight states are constructed to establish that the entanglement entropy scales logarithmically with the block size in the thermodynamic limit, with the prefactor being half the number of type-B Goldstone modes. The latter in turn is identified to be the fractal dimension., Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures,1 table, additional references to earlier related work added, a minor change

Disorder-free localization (DFL) has been established as a mechanism of strong ergodicity breaking in $1+1$D lattice gauge theories (LGTs) with dynamical matter for quenches starting in homogeneous initial states that span an extensive number of gauge superselection sectors. Nevertheless, the fate of DFL in $2+1$D in the presence of dynamical matter has hitherto remained an open question of great interest in light of the instability of quenched-disorder many-body localization in higher spatial dimensions. Using infinite matrix product state calculations, we show that DFL survives in $2+1$D LGTs, albeit it is generally less pronounced than in $1+1$D, and highly depends on the matter configuration of the initial state. Through suitable matter configurations, we are able to relate and compare the $1+1$D and $2+1$D cases, showing that the main ingredient for the strength of DFL in our setup is the \textit{propagation directionality} of matter. Our results suggest that, generically, DFL is weakened with increasing spatial dimension, although it can be made independent of the latter by minimizing the propagation directionality of matter in the initial state., Comment: $7$ pages, $4$ figures

The quantum simulation of gauge theories on synthetic quantum matter devices has gained a lot of traction in the last decade, making possible the observation of a range of exotic quantum many-body phenomena. In this work, we consider the spin-$1/2$ quantum link formulation of $1+1$D quantum electrodynamics with a topological $\theta$-angle, which can be used to tune a confinement-deconfinement transition. Exactly mapping this system onto a PXP model with mass and staggered magnetization terms, we show an intriguing interplay between confinement and the ergodicity-breaking paradigms of quantum many-body scarring and Hilbert-space fragmentation. We map out the rich dynamical phase diagram of this model, finding an ergodic phase at small values of the mass $\mu$ and confining potential $\chi$, an emergent integrable phase for large $\mu$, and a fragmented phase for large values of both parameters. We also show that the latter hosts resonances that lead to a vast array of effective models. We propose experimental probes of our findings, which can be directly accessed in current cold-atom setups., Comment: 28+12 pages, 16+8 figures

Using machine learning (ML) to recognize different phases of matter and to infer the entire phase diagram has proven to be an effective tool given a large dataset. In our previous proposals, we have successfully explored phase transitions for topological phases of matter at low dimensions either in a supervised or an unsupervised learning protocol with the assistance of quantum information related quantities. In this work, we adopt our previous ML procedures to study quantum phase transitions of magnetism systems such as the XY and XXZ spin chains by using spin-spin correlation functions as the input data. We find that our proposed approach not only maps out the phase diagrams with accurate phase boundaries, but also indicates some new features that have not observed before. In particular, we define so-called relevant correlation functions to some corresponding phases that can always distinguish between those and their neighbors. Based on the unsupervised learning protocol we proposed [Phys. Rev. B 104, 165108 (2021)], the reduced latent representations of the inputs combined with the clustering algorithm show the connectedness or disconnectedness between neighboring clusters (phases), just corresponding to the continuous or disrupt quantum phase transition, respectively., Comment: 18 pages, 21 figures

A major driver of quantum-simulator technology is the prospect of probing high-energy phenomena in synthetic quantum matter setups at a high level of control and tunability. Here, we propose an experimentally feasible realization of a large-scale $2+1$D $\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge theory with dynamical matter and gauge fields in a cold-atom quantum simulator with spinless bosons. We present the full mapping of the corresponding Gauss's law onto the bosonic computational basis. We then show that the target gauge theory can be faithfully realized and stabilized by an emergent gauge protection term in a two-dimensional single-species Bose--Hubbard optical Lieb superlattice with two spatial periods along either direction, thereby requiring only moderate experimental resources already available in current cold-atom setups. Using infinite matrix product states, we calculate numerical benchmarks for adiabatic sweeps and global quench dynamics that further confirm the fidelity of the mapping. Our work brings quantum simulators of gauge theories a significant step forward in terms of investigating particle physics in higher spatial dimensions, and is readily implementable in existing cold-atom platforms., Comment: 8+5 pages, 3+2 figures

The topological $\theta$-angle in gauge theories engenders a series of fundamental phenomena, including violations of charge-parity (CP) symmetry, dynamical topological transitions, and confinement--deconfinement transitions. At the same time, it poses major challenges for theoretical studies, as it implies a sign problem in numerical simulations. Analog quantum simulators open the promising prospect of treating quantum many-body systems with such topological terms, but, contrary to their digital counterparts, they have not yet demonstrated the capacity to control the $\theta$-angle. Here, we demonstrate how a tunable topological $\theta$-term can be added to a prototype theory with $\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge symmetry, a discretized version of quantum electrodynamics in one spatial dimension. As we show, the model can be realized experimentally in a single-species Bose--Hubbard model in an optical superlattice with three different spatial periods, thus requiring only standard experimental resources. Through numerical calculations obtained from the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method and exact diagonalization, we benchmark the model system, and illustrate how salient effects due to the $\theta$-term can be observed. These include charge confinement, the weakening of quantum many-body scarring, as well as the disappearance of Coleman's phase transition due to explicit breaking of CP symmetry. This work opens the door towards studying the rich physics of topological gauge-theory terms in large-scale cold-atom quantum simulators., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, journal article

It is argued that there are a set of orthonormal basis states, which appear as highly degenerate ground states arising from spontaneous symmetry breaking with a type-B Goldstone mode, and they are scale-invariant, with a salient feature that the entanglement entropy $S(n)$ scales logarithmically with the block size $n$ in the thermodynamic limit. As it turns out, the prefactor is half the number of type-B Goldstone modes $N_B$. This is achieved by performing an exact Schmidt decomposition of the orthonormal basis states, thus unveiling their self-similarities in the real space - the essence of a fractal. Combining with a field-theoretic prediction [O. A. Castro-Alvaredo and B. Doyon, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{108}, 120401 (2012)], we are led to the identification of the fractal dimension $d_f$ with the number of type-B Goldstone modes $N_B$ for the orthonormal basis states in quantum many-body systems undergoing spontaneous symmetry breaking., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes and references added

The absence of a critical nematic phase in the vicinity of the $\rm {SU}(3)$ ferromagnetic point for the one-dimensional spin-1 bilinear-biquadratic model is demonstrated by means of the tensor network algorithms. As it turns out, the phase transition from the ferromagnetic phase to the dimerized phase at the $\rm {SU}(3)$ ferromagnetic point is direct, but not of the first-order. The transition point features highly degenerate ground states, which are scale but not conformally invariant, with the fractal dimension being equal to 2. The conceptual developments in effective field theories - the fractal dimension and the counting rule of the Goldstone modes - play a pivotal role in clarifying the numerical artifacts arising from the finiteness of the bond dimension in the tensor network simulations, which are attributed to a proximity effect to a highly entangled scale or conformally invariant ground state., Comment: 15 pages, 21 figures, 7 tables

Recently, single-site observables have been shown to be useful for the detection of dynamical criticality due to an emergence of a universal critically-prethermal temporal regime in the magnetization [arXiv:2105.05986]. Here, we explore the potential of single-site observables as probes of quantum phase transitions in integrable and nonintegrable transverse-field Ising chains (TFIC). We analytically prove the requirement of zero modes for a quasi-stationary temporal regime to emerge at a bulk probe site, and show how this regime gives rise to a non-analytic behavior in the dynamical order profiles. Our $t$-DMRG calculations verify the results of the quench mean-field theory for near-integrable TFIC both with finite-size and finite-time scaling analyses. We find that both finite-size and finite-time analyses suggest a dynamical critical point for a strongly nonintegrable and locally connected TFIC. We finally demonstrate the presence of a quasi-stationary regime in the power-law interacting TFIC, and extract local dynamical order profiles for TFIC in the long-range Ising universality class with algebraic light cones., Comment: 22 pages, 23 figures. Revised with new analytical calculations, new content and improved presentation

Recent years have seen strong progress in quantum simulation of gauge-theory dynamics using ultracold-atom experiments. A principal challenge in these efforts is the certification of gauge invariance, which has recently been realized in [B.~Yang et al., arXiv:2003.08945]. One major but poorly investigated experimental source of gauge-invariance violation is an imperfect preparation of the initial state. Using the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group, we analyze the robustness of gauge-invariant dynamics against potential preparation defects in the above ultracold-atom implementation of a $\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge theory. We find defects related to an erroneous initialization of matter fields to be innocuous, as the associated gauge-invariance violation remains strongly localized throughout the time evolution. A defect due to faulty initialization of the gauge field leads to a mild proliferation of the associated violation. Furthermore, we characterize the influence of immobile and mobile defects by monitoring the spread of entanglement entropy. Overall, our results indicate that the aforementioned experimental realization exhibits a high level of fidelity in the gauge invariance of its dynamics at all evolution times. Our work provides strong evidence that ultracold-atom setups can serve as an extremely reliable framework for the quantum simulation of gauge-theory dynamics., Comment: Accepted version. 20 pages, 11 figures. Videos of dynamics at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FCrzldBtz8&list=PLoUsb3eaKix6xYrnNk68Bh3imd3II54gO

The ground state phase diagram is obtained for an antiferromagnetic spin-1 anisotropic biquadratic model. With the help of symmetry and duality transformations, three symmetry-protected trivial phases and one dimerized symmetry breaking phase are found. Local and nonlocal order parameters are identified to characterize these phases. Quantum phase transitions between the symmetry-protected trivial phases belong to the Gaussian universality class with central charge c = 1, and quantum phase transitions from the symmetry-protected trivial phases to the dimerized phase belong to the Ising universality class with central charge c = 1/2. In addition, the model admits three characteristic lines of factorized ground states, which are located in the symmetry-protected trivial phases instead of a symmetry breaking phase, in sharp contrast to other known cases., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

In recent years, the infinite time-evolution block decimation (iTEBD) method has been demonstrated to be one of the most efficient and powerful numerical schemes for time-evolution in one-dimensional quantum many-body systems. However, a major shortcoming of the method, along with other state-of-the-art algorithms for many-body dynamics, has been their restriction to one spatial dimension. We present an algorithm based on a \textit{hybrid} extension of iTEBD where finite blocks of a chain are first locally time-evolved before an iTEBD-like method combines these processes globally. This in turn permits simulating the dynamics of many-body systems in the thermodynamic limit in $d\geq1$ dimensions including in the presence of long-range interactions. Our work paves the way for simulating the dynamics of many-body phenomena that occur exclusively in higher dimensions, and whose numerical treatments have hitherto been limited to exact diagonalization of small systems, which fundamentally limits a proper investigation of dynamical criticality. We expect the algorithm presented here to be of significant importance to validating and guiding investigations in state-of-the-art ion-trap and ultracold-atom experiments., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, journal article

The order parameter cumulants of infinite matrix product ground states are evaluated across a quantum phase transition. A scheme using the Binder cumulant, finite-entanglement scaling and scaling functions to obtain the critical point and exponents of the correlation length and cumulants is presented. Analogous to the scaling relations that relate the exponents of various thermodynamic quantities, a cumulant exponent relation is derived and used to check the consistency and relationship between the cumulant exponents. This scheme gives a numerically economical way of accurately obtaining the critical exponents. Examples of this scheme are shown for four one-dimensional models - the transverse field Ising model, the topological Kondo insulator, the S = 1 Heisenberg chain with single-ion anisotropy and the Bose-Hubbard model. A two-dimensional model is also exemplified in the square lattice transverse field Ising model on an infinite cylinder. These exemplary systems portray a variety of local and string order parameters as well as phase transition classes that can be studied with the scaling functions and infinite matrix product states.

We investigate two separate notions of dynamical phase transitions in the two-dimensional nearest-neighbor transverse-field Ising model on a square lattice using matrix product states and a new \textit{hybrid} infinite time-evolving block decimation algorithm, where the model is implemented on an infinitely long cylinder with a finite diameter along which periodic boundary conditions are employed. Starting in an ordered initial state, our numerical results suggest that quenches below the dynamical critical point give rise to a ferromagnetic long-time steady state with the Loschmidt return rate exhibiting \textit{anomalous} cusps even when the order parameter never crosses zero. Within the accessible timescales of our numerics, quenches above the dynamical critical point suggest a paramagnetic long-time steady state with the return rate exhibiting \textit{regular} cusps connected to zero crossings of the order parameter. Additionally, our simulations indicate that quenching slightly above the dynamical critical point leads to a coexistence region where both anomalous and regular cusps appear in the return rate. Quenches from the disordered phase further confirm our main conclusions. Our work supports the recent finding that anomalous cusps arise only when local spin excitations are the energetically dominant quasiparticles. Our results are accessible in modern Rydberg experiments., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, journal article

We analyze the dynamics of a set of two-level atoms coupled to the electromagnetic environment within a waveguide. This problem is often tackled by assuming a weak coupling between the atoms and the environment as well as the associated Markov approximation. We show that the accuracy of such an approximation may be more limited than in the single-atom case and also be strongly determined by the presence of collective effects produced by atom-atom interactions. To this aim, we solve the full problem with exact diagonalization and also the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method, and compare the result to that obtained within a weak-coupling master equation and with the Dicke approximation. Finally, we study the dynamics of the entanglement within the system when considering several inter-atomic distances and atomic frequencies.

The effect of a local Kondo coupling and Hubbard interaction on the topological phase of the one-dimensional topological Kondo insulator (TKI) is numerically investigated using the infinite matrix-product state density-matrix renormalization group algorithm. The groundstate of the TKI is a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase protected by inversion symmetry. It is found that on its own, the Hubbard interaction that tends to force fermions into a one-charge per site order is insufficient to destroy the SPT phase. However when the local Kondo Hamiltonian term that favors a topologically trivial groundstate with a one-charge per site order is introduced, the Hubbard interaction assists in the destruction of the SPT phase. This topological phase transition occurs in the charge sector where the correlation length of the charge excitation diverges while the correlation length of the spin excitation remains finite. The critical exponents, central charge and the phase diagram separating the SPT phase from the topologically trivial phase are presented., Comment: 15 pages, 22 figures

The driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard model can be experimentally realized with either negative or positive onsite detunings, inter-site hopping energies, and onsite interaction energies. Here we use one-dimensional matrix product density operators to perform a fully quantum investigation of the dependence of the non-equilibrium steady states of this model on the signs of these parameters. Due to a symmetry in the Lindblad master equation, we find that simultaneously changing the sign of the interaction energies, hopping energies, and chemical potentials leaves the local boson number distribution and inter-site number correlations invariant, and the steady-state complex conjugated. This shows that all driven-dissipative phenomena of interacting bosons described by the Lindblad master equation, such as "fermionization" and "superbunching", can equivalently occur with attractive or repulsive interactions., Comment: single column 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

We numerically study the dynamics after a parameter quench in the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model with long-range interactions ($\propto 1/r^\alpha$ with distance $r$), for finite chains and also directly in the thermodynamic limit. In nonequilibrium, i.e., before the system settles into a thermal state, we find a long-lived regime that is characterized by a prethermal value of the magnetization, which in general differs from its thermal value. We find that the ferromagnetic phase is stabilized dynamically: as a function of the quench parameter, the prethermal magnetization shows a transition between a symmetry-broken and a symmetric phase, even for those values of $\alpha$ for which no finite-temperature transition occurs in equilibrium. The dynamical critical point is shifted with respect to the equilibrium one, and the shift is found to depend on $\alpha$ as well as on the quench parameters., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) is one of the most powerful numerical methods available for many-body systems. In this work, we develop a perturbation theory of DMRG (PT-DMRG) to largely increase its accuracy in an extremely simple and efficient way. By using the canonical matrix product state (MPS) representation for the ground state of the considered system, a set of orthogonal basis functions $\left\lbrace | \psi_i \rangle \right\rbrace$ is introduced to describe the perturbations to the ground state obtained by the conventional DMRG. The Schmidt numbers of the MPS that are beyond the bond dimension cut-off are used to define such perturbation terms. The perturbed Hamiltonian is then defined as $\tilde{H}_{ij}= \langle \psi_i | \hat{H} | \psi_j \rangle$; its ground state permits to calculate physical observables with a considerably improved accuracy as compared to the original DMRG results. We benchmark the second-order perturbation theory with the help of one-dimensional Ising chain in a transverse field and the Heisenberg chain, where the precision of DMRG is shown to be improved $\rm O(10)$ times. Furthermore, for moderate length $L$ the errors of DMRG and PT-DMRG both scale linearly with $L^{-1}$. The linear relation between the dimension cut-off of DMRG and that of PT-DMRG with the same precision shows a considerable improvement of efficiency, especially for large dimension cut-off's. In thermodynamic limit we show that the errors of PT-DMRG scale with $\sqrt{L^{-1}}$. Our work suggests an effective way to define the tangent space of the ground state MPS, which may shed lights on the properties beyond the ground state. Such second-order PT-DMRG can be readily generalized to higher orders, as well as applied to the models in higher dimensions.

We consider the optical conductivity $\sigma_1(\omega)$ in the metallic phase of the one-dimensional Hubbard model. Our results focus on the vicinity of half filling and the frequency regime around the optical gap in the Mott insulating phase. By means of a density-matrix renormalization group implementation of the correction-vector approach, $\sigma_1(\omega)$ is computed for a range of interaction strengths and dopings. We identify an energy scale $E_{\rm opt}$ above which the optical conductivity shows a rapid increase. We then use a mobile impurity model in combination with exact results to determine the behavior of $\sigma_1(\omega)$ for frequencies just above $E_{\rm opt}$ which is in agreement with our numerical data. As a main result, we find that this onset behavior is not described by a power law., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; final version

We present a new impurity solver for dynamical mean-field theory based on imaginary-time evolution of matrix product states. This converges the self-consistency loop on the imaginary-frequency axis and obtains real-frequency information in a final real-time evolution. Relative to computations on the real-frequency axis, required bath sizes are much smaller and less entanglement is generated, so much larger systems can be studied. The power of the method is demonstrated by solutions of a three band model in the single and two-site dynamical mean-field approximation. Technical issues are discussed, including details of the method, efficiency as compared to other matrix product state based impurity solvers, bath construction and its relation to real-frequency computations and the analytic continuation problem of quantum Monte Carlo, the choice of basis in dynamical cluster approximation, and perspectives for off-diagonal hybridization functions., Comment: 8 pages + 4 pages appendix, 9 figures

We present and test a new algorithm for time-evolving quantum many-body systems initially proposed by Holzner et al. [Phys. Rev. B 83, 195115 (2011)]. The approach is based on merging the matrix product state (MPS) formalism with the method of expanding the time-evolution operator in Chebyshev polynomials. We calculate time-dependent observables of a system of hardcore bosons quenched under the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian on a one-dimensional lattice. We compare the new algorithm to more standard methods using the MPS architecture. We find that the Chebyshev method gives numerically exact results for small times. However, the reachable times are smaller than the ones obtained with the other state-of-the-art methods. We further extend the new method using a spectral-decomposition-based projective scheme that utilizes an effective bandwidth significantly smaller than the full bandwidth, leading to longer evolution times than the non-projective method and more efficient information storage, data compression, and less computational effort., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures

We study the unitary time evolution of antiferromagnetic order in the Hubbard model after a quench starting from the perfect N\'eel state. In this setup, which is well suited for experiments with cold atoms, one can distinguish fundamentally different pathways for melting of long-range order at weak and strong interaction. In the Mott insulating regime, melting of long-range order occurs due to the ultra-fast transfer of energy from charge excitations to the spin background, while local magnetic moments and their exchange coupling persist during the process. The latter can be demonstrated by a local spin-precession experiment. At weak interaction, local moments decay along with the long-range order. The dynamics is governed by residual quasiparticles, which are reflected in oscillations of the off-diagonal components of the momentum distribution. Such oscillations provide an alternative route to study the prethermalization phenomenon and its influence on the dynamics away from the integrable (noninteracting) limit. The Hubbard model is solved within nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory, using the density matrix-renormalization group as an impurity solver., Comment: 11 pages