Many-Body Localization Characterized from a One-Particle Perspective

Soumya Bera, Henning Schomerus, Fabian Heidrich-Meisner, and Jens H. Bardarson
Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 046603 – Published 24 July 2015
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Abstract

We show that the one-particle density matrix ρ can be used to characterize the interaction-driven many-body localization transition in closed fermionic systems. The natural orbitals (the eigenstates of ρ) are localized in the many-body localized phase and spread out when one enters the delocalized phase, while the occupation spectrum (the set of eigenvalues of ρ) reveals the distinctive Fock-space structure of the many-body eigenstates, exhibiting a steplike discontinuity in the localized phase. The associated one-particle occupation entropy is small in the localized phase and large in the delocalized phase, with diverging fluctuations at the transition. We analyze the inverse participation ratio of the natural orbitals and find that it is independent of system size in the localized phase.

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  • Received 20 March 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.046603

© 2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Soumya Bera1, Henning Schomerus2,1, Fabian Heidrich-Meisner3, and Jens H. Bardarson1

  • 1Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, 01187 Dresden, Germany
  • 2Department of Physics, Lancaster University, LA1 4YB Lancaster, United Kingdom
  • 3Department of Physics and Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80333 München, Germany

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Issue

Vol. 115, Iss. 4 — 24 July 2015

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