Spin-charge separation and many-body localization

Jakub Zakrzewski and Dominique Delande
Phys. Rev. B 98, 014203 – Published 16 July 2018

Abstract

We study many-body localization for a disordered chain of spin-1/2 fermions. When both down and up components are exposed to the same strong disorder, a power-law growth of the entanglement entropy was observed [P. Prelovšek et al., Phys. Rev. B 94, 241104 (2016)] that suggests that many-body localization is not complete; the density (charge) degree of freedom is localized, while the spin degree of freedom is apparently delocalized. We show that this powerlike behavior is only a transient effect and that, for longer times, the growth of the entanglement entropy is logarithmic in time. At the same time, the decay of the spin correlation slows down, showing that the spin transport is strongly reduced at long times. The dynamics of the system is quite similar to the one of many-body localized systems. Because of the limited duration of the numerical experiment, it is not possible to determine whether the system is truly many-body localized or diffusing very slowly at long times.

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  • Received 10 February 2018
  • Revised 5 July 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.014203

©2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Jakub Zakrzewski*

  • Instytut Fizyki imienia Mariana Smoluchowskiego, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, ulica Profesora Stanisława Łojasiewicza 11, 30-348 Kraków, Poland and Mark Kac Complex Systems Research Center, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków, Poland

Dominique Delande

  • Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, UPMC-Sorbonne Universités, CNRS, ENS-PSL Research University, Collège de France, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France and Instytut Fizyki imienia Mariana Smoluchowskiego, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, ulica Profesora Stanisława Łojasiewicza 11, 30-348 Kraków, Poland

  • *jakub.zakrzewski@uj.edu.pl

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Issue

Vol. 98, Iss. 1 — 1 July 2018

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