Stark many-body localization: Evidence for Hilbert-space shattering

Elmer V. H. Doggen, Igor V. Gornyi, Dmitry G. Polyakov

Published 2020-12-26Version 1

We study the dynamics of an interacting quantum spin chain under the application of a linearly increasing potential. This model exhibits a type of localization known as Stark many-body localization. The dynamics shows a strong dependence on the initial conditions, indicating that the system violates the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis at any finite gradient of the potential. This is contrary to reports of a numerically observed ergodic phase. Therefore, the localization is crucially distinct from disorder-driven many-body localization, in agreement with recent predictions on the basis of localization via Hilbert-space shattering.