Dynamic evolution of expanding Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of a three-dimensional random optical speckle potential

We study the diffusion of an expanding Bose-Einstein condensate released from a harmonic trap in a three-dimensional speckle disorder potential. To this end, we use the first Born approximation and examine the density profiles at short and long times. Analytical results are presented in different regimes. The spatiotemporal evolution of the density profiles is examined. We find that at long times and for a fixed disorder strength, the profile of the atomic average density decreases in power law. The time evolution of the typical size of the condensate is explored numerically.

Non-Hermiticity-induced reentrant localization in a quasiperiodic lattice

In this paper, we demonstrate that the non-Hermiticity can induce reentrant localization in a generalized quasiperiodic lattice. Specifically, by considering a nonreciprocal dimerized lattice with staggered quasiperiodic disorder, we find that the localization transition can appear twice by increasing the disorder strength. We also unravel a multi-complex-real eigenenergy transition, whose transition points coincide with those in the localization phase transitions. Moreover, the impacts of boundary conditions on the localization properties have been clarified. Finally, we study the wavepacket dynamics in different parameter regimes, which offers an experimentally feasible route to detect the reentrant localization.

Influence of disorder strength on the superconducting mechanism of MgB2

We investigate the effect of disorder on the superconducting mechanism of MgB2 thin films using low-energy ion irradiation. The c-axis lattice constant and T c of MgB2 thin films change systematically as the magnitude of disorder, which corresponds to the value of average displacements per atom (dpaavg ), increases. Here, dpaavg is controlled by the amount of irradiated ions. The dpaavg dependence of the electron-phonon coupling constants (λ) is estimated using the McMillan equation. For dpaavg ≤ 0.049, λ is linearly proportional to dpaavg . On the other hand, for dpaavg > 0.049, the T c of the disordered MgB2 deviates from the linear fitting curve, and insulating behavior is observed in the normal state resistivity. These results indicate that the superconducting mechanism of MgB2 can be changed by the electronic system caused by disorder strength affecting the electron-phonon coupling constant λ.

From Nucleation to Percolation: The Effect of System Size when Disorder and Stress Localization Compete

A phase diagram for a one-dimensional fiber bundle model is constructed with a continuous variation in two parameters guiding the dynamics of the model: strength of disorder and range of stress relaxation. When the range of stress relaxation is very low, the stress concentration plays a prominent role and the failure process is nucleating where a single crack propagates from a particular nucleus with a very high spatial correlation unless the disorder strength is high. On the other hand, a high range of stress relaxation represents the mean-field limit of the model where the failure events are random in space. At an intermediate disorder strength and stress release range, when these two parameters compete, the failure process shows avalanches and precursor activities. As the size of the bundle is increased, it favors a nucleating failure. In the thermodynamic limit, we only observe a nucleating failure unless either the disorder strength is extremely high or the stress release range is high enough so that the model is in the mean-field limit. A complex phase diagram on the plane of disorder strength, stress release range, and system size is presented showing different failure modes - 1) nucleation 2) avalanche, and 3) percolation, depending on the spatial correlation observed during the failure process.

Signatures of a critical point in the many-body localization transition

Disordered interacting spin chains that undergo a many-body localization transition are characterized by two limiting behaviors where the dynamics are chaotic and integrable. However, the transition region between them is not fully understood yet. We propose here a possible finite-size precursor of a critical point that shows a typical finite-size scaling and distinguishes between two different dynamical phases. The kurtosis excess of the diagonal fluctuations of the full one-dimensional momentum distribution from its microcanonical average is maximum at this singular point in the paradigmatic disordered J_1J1-J_2J2 model. For system sizes accessible to exact diagonalization, both the position and the size of this maximum scale linearly with the system size. Furthermore, we show that this singular point is found at the same disorder strength at which the Thouless and the Heisenberg energies coincide. Below this point, the spectral statistics follow the universal random matrix behavior up to the Thouless energy. Above it, no traces of chaotic behavior remain, and the spectral statistics are well described by a generalized semi-Poissonian model, eventually leading to the integrable Poissonian behavior. We provide, thus, an integrated scenario for the many-body localization transition, conjecturing that the critical point in the thermodynamic limit, if it exists, should be given by this value of disorder strength.

Negative correlations can play a positive role in disordered quantum walks

We investigate the emerging properties of quantum walks with temporal disorder engineered from a binary Markov chain with tailored correlation, C, and disorder strength, r. We show that when the disorder is weak—$$r \ll 1$$ r ≪ 1 —the introduction of negative correlation leads to a counter-intuitive higher production of spin-lattice entanglement entropy, $$S_e$$ S e , than the setting with positive correlation, that is $$S_e(-|C|)>S_e(|C|)$$ S e ( - | C | ) > S e ( | C | ) . These results show that negatively correlated disorder plays a more important role in quantum entanglement than it has been assumed in the literature.

Anderson–Kitaev spin liquid

The bond-disordered Kitaev model attracts much attention due to the experimental relevance in α-RuCl3 and A3LiIr2O6 (A = H, D, Ag, etc.). Applying a magnetic field to break the time-reversal symmetry leads to a strong modulation in mass terms for Dirac cones. Because of the smallness of the flux gap of the Kitaev model, a small bond disorder can have large influence on itinerant Majorana fermions. The quantization of the thermal Hall conductivity κxy/T disappears by a quantum Hall transition induced by a small disorder, and κxy/T shows a rapid crossover into a state with a negligible Hall current. We call this immobile liquid state Anderson–Kitaev spin liquid (AKSL). Especially, the critical disorder strength δJc1 ~ 0.05 in the unit of the Kitaev interaction would have many implications for the stability of Kitaev spin liquids.

Magnetotransport and complexity of holographic metal-insulator transitions

We study the magnetotransport in a minimal holographic setup of a metal- insulator transition in two spatial dimensions. Some generic features are obtained without referring to the non-linear details of the holographic theory. The temperature dependence of resistivity is found to be well scaled with a single parameter T0, which approaches zero at some critical charge density ρc, and increases as a power law T0∼ |ρ − ρc|1/2 both in metallic (ρ > ρc) and insulating (ρ < ρc) regions in the vicinity of the transition. Similar features also happen by changing the disorder strength as well as magnetic field. By requiring a positive definite longitudinal conductivity in the presence of an applied magnetic field restricts the allowed parameter space of theory parameters. We explicitly check the consistency of parameter range for two representative models, and compute the optical conductivities for both metallic and insulating phases, from which a disorder- induced transfer of spectral weight from low to high energies is manifest. We construct the phase diagram in terms of temperature and disorder strength. The complexity during the transition is studied and is found to be not a good probe to the metal-insulator transition.

Properties of Normal Modes in a Modified Disordered Klein-Gordon Lattice: From Disorder to Order

We introduce a modified version of the disordered Klein-Gordon lattice model, having two parameters for controlling the disorder strength: D, which determines the range of the coefficients of the on-site potentials, and W, which defines the strength of the nearestneighbor interactions. We fix W = 4 and investigate how the properties of the system's normal modes change as we approach its ordered version, i.e. D → 0. We show that the probability density distribution of the normal mode's frequencies takes a 'U'-shaped profile as D decreases. Furthermore, we use two quantities for estimating the mode's spatial extent, the so-called localization volume V (which is related to the mode's second moment) and the mode's participation number P. We show that both quantities scale as ∝ D−2 when D approaches zero and we numerically verify a proportionality relation between them as V/P ≈ 2.6.

Many-Body Dynamics and Decoherence of the XXZ Central Spin Model in External Magnetic Field

The many-body dynamics of an electron spin−1/2 qubit coupled to a bath of nuclear spins by hyperfine interactions, as described by the central spin model in two kinds of external field, are studied in this paper. In a completely polarized bath, we use the state recurrence method to obtain the exact solution of the X X Z central spin model in a constant magnetic field and numerically analyze the influence of the disorder strength of the magnetic field on fidelity and entanglement entropy. For a constant magnetic field, the fidelity presents non-attenuating oscillations. The anisotropic parameter λ and the magnetic field strength B significantly affect the dynamic behaviour of the central spin. Unlike the periodic oscillation in the constant magnetic field, the decoherence dynamics of the central spin act like a damping oscillation in a disordered field, where the central spin undergoes a relaxation process and eventually reaches a stable state. The relaxation time of this process is affected by the disorder strength and the anisotropic parameter, where a larger anisotropic parameter or disorder strength can speed up the relaxation process. Compared with the constant magnetic field, the disordered field can regulate the decoherence over a large range, independent of the anisotropic parameter.