ScarFinder: a detector of optimal scar trajectories in quantum many-body dynamics

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ren, Jie, Hallam, Andrew, Ying, Lei, Papić, Zlatko
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ren, Jie
Hallam, Andrew
Ying, Lei
Papić, Zlatko
author_facet Ren, Jie
Hallam, Andrew
Ying, Lei
Papić, Zlatko
contents Mechanisms that give rise to coherent quantum dynamics, such as quantum many-body scars, have recently attracted much interest as a way of controlling quantum chaos. However, identifying the presence of quantum scars in general many-body Hamiltonians remains an outstanding challenge. Here we introduce ScarFinder, a variational framework that reveals possible scar-like dynamics without prior knowledge of scar states or their algebraic structure. By iteratively evolving and projecting states within a low-entanglement variational manifold, ScarFinder isolates scarred trajectories by suppressing thermal contributions. We validate the method on the analytically tractable spin-1 XY model, recovering the known scar dynamics, as well as the mixed field Ising model, where we capture and generalize the initial conditions previously associated with ``weak thermalization''. We then apply the method to the PXP model of Rydberg atom arrays, efficiently characterizing its mixed phase space and finding a previously unknown trajectory with nearly-perfect revival dynamics in the thermodynamic limit. Our results establish ScarFinder as a powerful, model-agnostic tool for identifying and optimizing coherent dynamics in quantum many-body systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_12383
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle ScarFinder: a detector of optimal scar trajectories in quantum many-body dynamics
Ren, Jie
Hallam, Andrew
Ying, Lei
Papić, Zlatko
Quantum Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mechanisms that give rise to coherent quantum dynamics, such as quantum many-body scars, have recently attracted much interest as a way of controlling quantum chaos. However, identifying the presence of quantum scars in general many-body Hamiltonians remains an outstanding challenge. Here we introduce ScarFinder, a variational framework that reveals possible scar-like dynamics without prior knowledge of scar states or their algebraic structure. By iteratively evolving and projecting states within a low-entanglement variational manifold, ScarFinder isolates scarred trajectories by suppressing thermal contributions. We validate the method on the analytically tractable spin-1 XY model, recovering the known scar dynamics, as well as the mixed field Ising model, where we capture and generalize the initial conditions previously associated with ``weak thermalization''. We then apply the method to the PXP model of Rydberg atom arrays, efficiently characterizing its mixed phase space and finding a previously unknown trajectory with nearly-perfect revival dynamics in the thermodynamic limit. Our results establish ScarFinder as a powerful, model-agnostic tool for identifying and optimizing coherent dynamics in quantum many-body systems.
title ScarFinder: a detector of optimal scar trajectories in quantum many-body dynamics
topic Quantum Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.12383