Fixed Points of Wegner-Wilson Flows and Many-Body Localization

David Pekker, Bryan K. Clark, Vadim Oganesyan, and Gil Refael
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 075701 – Published 16 August 2017
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

Many-body localization (MBL) is a phase of matter that is characterized by the absence of thermalization. Dynamical generation of a large number of local quantum numbers has been identified as one key characteristic of this phase, quite possibly the microscopic mechanism of breakdown of thermalization and the phase transition itself. We formulate a robust algorithm, based on Wegner-Wilson flow (WWF) renormalization, for computing these conserved quantities and their interactions. We present evidence for the existence of distinct fixed point distributions of the latter: a Gaussian white-noise-like distribution in the ergodic phase, a 1/f law inside the MBL phase, and scale-free distributions in the transition regime.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 25 August 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.075701

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

David Pekker1,2, Bryan K. Clark3, Vadim Oganesyan4,5, and Gil Refael6

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
  • 2Pittsburgh Quantum Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
  • 4Department of Engineering Science and Physics, College of Staten Island, CUNY, Staten Island, New York 10314, USA
  • 5Physics program, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, New York 10016, USA
  • 6Department of Physics and the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, Caltech, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 7 — 18 August 2017

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
CHORUS

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×