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Universal Properties of Many-Body Delocalization Transitions

Authors :
Andrew C. Potter
Romain Vasseur
S. A. Parameswaran
Source :
Physical Review X, Vol 5, Iss 3, p 031033 (2015)
Publication Year :
2015
Publisher :
American Physical Society, 2015.

Abstract

We study the dynamical melting of “hot” one-dimensional many-body localized systems. As disorder is weakened below a critical value, these nonthermal quantum glasses melt via a continuous dynamical phase transition into classical thermal liquids. By accounting for collective resonant tunneling processes, we derive and numerically solve an effective model for such quantum-to-classical transitions and compute their universal critical properties. Notably, the classical thermal liquid exhibits a broad regime of anomalously slow subdiffusive equilibration dynamics and energy transport. The subdiffusive regime is characterized by a continuously evolving dynamical critical exponent that diverges with a universal power at the transition. Our approach elucidates the universal long-distance, low-energy scaling structure of many-body delocalization transitions in one dimension, in a way that is transparently connected to the underlying microscopic physics. We discuss experimentally testable signatures of the predicted scaling properties.

Subjects

Subjects :
Physics
QC1-999

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
21603308
Volume :
5
Issue :
3
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Physical Review X
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.4f6bfb0323b54455a192b5d45690d8d6
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.5.031033