Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Quantum spin models are useful in many areas of physics, such as strongly correlated materials and quantum phase transitions, or, generally, quantum many-body systems. Most of the models of interest are not analytically solvable. Therefore they are often investigated using computational methods. However, spin models with frustrated interactions are not easily simulated numerically with existing methods, and more effective algorithms are needed. In this thesis, I will cover two areas of quantum spin research: 1. studies of several quantum spin models and 2. development of more efficient computational methods. The discussion of the computational methods and new algorithms is integrated with the physical properties of the models and new results obtained. I study the frustrated S=1/2 J1-J2 model Heisenberg model, the J-Q model, the Ising model with a transverse magnetic field, and a two-orbital spin model describing the magnetic properties of iron pnictides. I will discuss several computational algorithms, including a cluster variational method using mean-field boundary conditions, variational quantum Monte Carlo simulation with clusters-based wave functions, as well as a method I call "optilization" -- an algorithm constructed in order to accelerate the process of optimization with a large number of parameters. I apply it to matrix product states. / 2031-01-02

Quantum phenomena in high-Tc superconductors and dimerized quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets are studied analytically in this thesis. The implications of the Fermi surface consisting of the disjoint pieces, observed in cuprate superconductors, are considered. It is demonstrated that in this case the g-wave superconducting pairing is closely related to d-wave pairing. The superconductivity in this system can be described in terms of two almost degenerate superconducting condensates. As a result a new spatial scale lg, much larger than the superconducting correlation length x, arises and a new collective excitation corresponding to the relative phase oscillation between condensates, the phason, should exist. The Josephson tunneling for such a two-component system has very special properties. It is shown that the presence of g-wave pairing does not contradict the existing SQUID experimental data on tunneling in the ab-plane. Possible ways to experimentally reveal the g-wave component and the phason in a single tunnel junction, as well as in SQUID experiments, are discussed. The dimerized quantum spin models studied in this thesis include double-layer and alternating chain Heisenberg antiferromagnets. To account for strong correlations between the S=1 elementary excitations (triplets) in the dimerized phase; the analytic Brueckner diagram approach based on a description of the excitations as triplets above a strong-coupling singlet ground state; has been applied. The quasiparticle spectrum is calculated by treating the excitations as a dilute Bose gas with infinite on-site repulsion. Analytical calculations of physical observables are in excellent agreement with numerical data.Results obtained for double layer antiferromagnet near the (zero temperature) quantum critical point coincide with those previously obtained within the nonlinear s model approach Additional singlet (S=0) and triplet (S=1) modes are found as two-particle bound states of the elementary triplets in the Heisenberg chain with frustration.

This thesis, divided into two parts, is concerned with the analysis of spectral and dynamical characteristics of certain quantum spin systems in the presence of either I) quenched disorder, or II) dynamical noise. In the first part, the quantum random energy model (QREM), a mean-field spin glass model with a many-body localisation transition, is studied. In Chapter 2, we attempt a diagrammatic perturbative analysis of the QREM from the ergodic side, proceeding by analogy to the single-particle theory of weak localisation. Whilst we are able to describe diffusion, the analogy breaks down and a description of the onset of localisation in terms of quantum corrections quickly becomes intractable. Some progress is possible by deriving a quantum kinetic equation, namely the relaxation of the one-spin reduced density matrix is determined, but this affords little insight and extension to two-spin quantities is difficult. We change our approach in Chapter 3, studying instead a stroboscopic version of the model using the formalism of quantum graphs. Here, an analytic evaluation of the form factor in the diagonal approximation is possible, which we find to be consistent with the universal random matrix theory (RMT) result in the ergodic regime. In Chapter 4, we replace the QREM's transverse field with a random kinetic term and present a diagrammatic calculation of the average density of states, exact in the large-N limit, and interpret the result in terms of the addition of freely independent random variables. In the second part, we turn our attention to noisy quantum spins. Chapter 5 is concerned with noninteracting spins coupled to a common stochastic field; correlations arising from the common noise relax only due to the spins' differing precession frequencies. Our key result is a mapping of the equation of motion of n-spin correlators onto the (integrable) non-Hermitian Richardson-Gaudin model, enabling exact calculation of the relaxation rate of correlations. The second problem, addressed in Chapter 6, is that of the dynamics of operator moments in a noisy Heisenberg model; qualitatively different behaviour is found depending on whether or not the noise conserves a component of spin. In the case of nonconserving noise, we report that the evolution of the second moment maps onto the Fredrickson-Andersen model - a kinetically constrained model originally introduced to describe the glass transition. This facilitates a rigorous study of operator spreading in a continuous-time model, providing a complementary viewpoint to recent investigations of random unitary circuits.

Lattice gauge theories are crucial for our understanding of many physical phenomena ranging from fundamental particle interactions in high-energy physics to frustration and topological order in condensed matter. Hence, many equilibrium aspects of these theories have been studied intensively over the past decades. Recent developments, however, have shown that the study of nonequilibrium dynamics in lattice gauge theories also provides a very fertile ground for interesting phenomena. This thesis is devoted to the study of two particular dynamical processes in lattice gauge theories and related quantum spin models. First, we show that an interacting two-dimensional lattice gauge theory can exhibit disorder-free localization: a mechanism for ergodicity breaking due to local constraints imposed by gauge invariance. This result is particularly remarkable as the stability in two dimensions of the more conventional (disorder-induced) many-body localization is still debated. Concretely, we show this type of nonergodic behavior in the quantum link model. Our central result is based on a bound on the localization-delocalization transition, which is established through a concomitant classical percolation problem. Further, we develop a numerical method dubbed “variational classical networks”, to study the quantum dynamics in this system. This technique provides an efficient and perturbatively controlled representation of the wave function in terms of networks of classical spins akin to artificial neural networks. This allows us to identify distinguishing transport properties in the localized and ergodic phases, respectively. In the second problem, we study the dynamics of string breaking, a key process in confining gauge theories, where a string connecting two charges decays due to the creation of new particle-antiparticle pairs. Our main result here is that string breaking can also be observed in quantum Ising chains, in which domain walls get confined either by a symmetry-breaking field or by long-range interactions. We identify, in general, two distinct stages in this process. While at the beginning the initial charges remain stable, the string can exhibit complex dynamics with strong quantum correlations. We provide an effective description of this string motion, and find that it can be highly constrained. In the second stage, the string finally breaks at a timescale that depends sensitively on the initial separation of domain walls. We observe that the second stage can be significantly delayed as a consequence of the dynamical constraints appearing in the first stage. Finally, we discuss the generalization of our results to low-dimensional confining gauge theories. As a general aspect of this work, we discuss how the phenomena studied here could be realized experimentally with current and future technologies in quantum simulation. Furthermore, the methods developed in this thesis can also be applied to other lattice gauge theories and constrained quantum many-body models, not only to address purely theoretical questions but also to provide a theoretical description of experiments in quantum simulators. / Gittereichtheorien sind ein wichtiger Bestandteil im Verständnis vieler physikalischer Phänomene und Grundlage verschiedener Theorien, welche sich von der elementaren Wechselwirkungen in der Hochenergiephysik, Frustration in Spinmodellen bis hin zu topologischer Ordnung in der Festkörperphysik erstrecken. Die Eigenschaften von Eichtheorien im Gleichgewicht waren in den letzten Jahrzehnten ein zentraler Punkt der Forschung. Obwohl sich Untersuchungen der Dynamik jenseits des Gleichgewichs als eine große Herausfordung dargestellt haben, haben kürzliche Erkenntnisse gezeigt, dass die Dynamik in Gittereichtheorien überraschende und interessante Entdeckungen bereithält. Diese Dissertation behandelt zwei zentrale dynamische Prozesse in Gittereichtheorien und verwandten Spinmodellen. Einerseits soll die Dynamik von zweidimensionalen und wechselwirkenden Gittereichtheorien untersucht werden im Falle des sogenan- nten Quanten-Link-Modells untersucht werden. Entgegen der Ergodenhypothese zeigt das System Lokalisierung ohne Unordnung aufgrund lokaler Zwangsbedingungen durch Eininvarianz. Dieses Ergebnis ist insofern bemerkenswert, als die gewöhnliche, durch Unordnung induzierte, Vielteilchenlokalisierung in zwei Dimensionen umstritten ist. Als ein Hauptergebnis finden wir einen Übergang zwischen einer lokalisierten und ergodischen Phase, dessen Existenz durch ein zugehöriges klassisches Perkolationsproblem gezeigt werden konnte. Die quantenmechanischen Transporteigenschaften, elementar verschieden in der lokalisierten und ergodischen Phase, werden charakterisiert und untersucht. Die Lösung der quantenmechanischen Zeitentwicklung wird durch eine methodische Weiterentwicklung der sogenannten „variationellen klassischen Netzwerke“ erreicht Diese Methode stellt eine perturbative, aber kontrollierte Repräsentation von zeitentwickelten quantenmechanischen Wellenfunktionen dar in Form von Netzwerken klassischer Spins, ähnlich wie bei einem künstlichen neuronalen Netz. Im zweiten Teil untersuchen wir die Dynamik eines Schlüsselprozesses in Eichtheorien mit Confinement, welcher als „String-Breaking“ bezeichnet wird In diesem Prozess zerfällt der der Strang, der zwei elementare Ladungen verbindet, durch die Bildung neuer Teilchen-Antiteilchen-Paare. Ein Hauptresultat dieser Arbeit ist die Beobachtung dieses dynamischen Phänomens in Quantum-Ising-Ketten und damit in Systemen ohne Eichinvarianz. Das Confinement entsteht dabei zwischen Domänenwänden entweder durch eine langreichweitige Wechselwirkung zwischen den beteiligten Spins oder durch symmetriebrechende Magnetfelder. Es wird gezeigt, dass während des „String-breaking“ Prozesses das Modell zwei Phasen durchläuft: Während zu Beginn die Anfangsladungen stabil bleiben, weist der Strang eine komplexe Dynamik mit starken Quantenkorrelationen auf. Für diese erste Phase wird eine effektive Beschreibung eingeführt, um die verschiedenen Aspekte zu analysieren und zu verstehen. Die Zeitskalen zur Destabilisierung des Strangs innerhalb einer zweiten Phase zeigen eine starke Abhängigkeit von der anfänglichen Trennung der Domänenwände. Es wird gezeigt, dass die zweite Phase als Konsequenz der dynamischen Beschränkungen der ersten Phase signifikant verzögert werden kann. Diese Resultate können in niedrigdimensionalen Eichtheorien verallgemeinert werden. Weiterführend sollen die Ergebnisse als Grundlage einer experimentellen Realisierung durch Quantensimulationen dienen. Die entwickelten Methoden können auf andere Eichtheorien und verwandten Vielteilchenmodellen angewendet werden und bieten eine Plattform für weitere Ansätze.