Stable infinite-temperature eigenstates in SU(2)-symmetric nonintegrable models

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Authors: Christopher J. Turner, Marcin Szyniszewski, Bhaskar Mukherjee, Ronald Melendrez, Hitesh J. Changlani, Arijeet Pal
Cited by: 0
References: 68

Abstract

Nonintegrable many-body quantum systems typically thermalize at long times through the mechanism of quantum chaos. However, some exceptional systems, such as those harboring quantum scars, break thermalization, serving as testbeds for foundational problems of quantum statistical physics. Here, we investigate a class of nonintegrable bond-staggered models that is endowed with a large number of zero-energy eigenstates and possesses a non-Abelian internal symmetry. We use character theory to give a lower bound on the zero-energy degeneracy, which matches exact diagonalization results and is found to grow exponentially with the system size. We also show that few-magnon zero-energy states have an exact analytical description, allowing us to build a basis of low-entangled fixed-separation states, which is stable to most perturbations found in experiments. This remarkable dynamical stability of special states elucidates our understanding of nonequilibrium processes in non-Abelian chaotic quantum models.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Quantum chaos and dynamical systems Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions Nonlinear Waves and Solitons

Publication details

Journal / source
Physical Review Research
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Volume
8
Issue
2
Publication date
29 April 2026
Language
EN