Random unitaries from Hamiltonian dynamics

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Cui, Laura, Schuster, Thomas, Mao, Liang, Huang, Hsin-Yuan, Brandao, Fernando
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Cui, Laura
Schuster, Thomas
Mao, Liang
Huang, Hsin-Yuan
Brandao, Fernando
author_facet Cui, Laura
Schuster, Thomas
Mao, Liang
Huang, Hsin-Yuan
Brandao, Fernando
contents The nature of randomness and complexity growth in systems governed by unitary dynamics is a fundamental question in quantum many-body physics. This problem has motivated the study of models such as local random circuits and their convergence to Haar-random unitaries in the long-time limit. However, these models do not correspond to any family of physical time-independent Hamiltonians. In this work, we address this gap by studying the indistinguishability of time-independent Hamiltonian dynamics from truly random unitaries. On one hand, we establish a no-go result showing that for any ensemble of constant-local Hamiltonians and any evolution times, the resulting time-evolution unitary can be efficiently distinguished from Haar-random and fails to form a $2$-design or a pseudorandom unitary (PRU). On the other hand, we prove that this limitation can be overcome by increasing the locality slightly: there exist ensembles of random polylog-local Hamiltonians in one-dimension such that under constant evolution time, the resulting time-evolution unitary is indistinguishable from Haar-random, i.e. it forms both a unitary $k$-design and a PRU. Moreover, these Hamiltonians can be efficiently simulated under standard cryptographic assumptions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_08434
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Random unitaries from Hamiltonian dynamics
Cui, Laura
Schuster, Thomas
Mao, Liang
Huang, Hsin-Yuan
Brandao, Fernando
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Computational Complexity
Mathematical Physics
The nature of randomness and complexity growth in systems governed by unitary dynamics is a fundamental question in quantum many-body physics. This problem has motivated the study of models such as local random circuits and their convergence to Haar-random unitaries in the long-time limit. However, these models do not correspond to any family of physical time-independent Hamiltonians. In this work, we address this gap by studying the indistinguishability of time-independent Hamiltonian dynamics from truly random unitaries. On one hand, we establish a no-go result showing that for any ensemble of constant-local Hamiltonians and any evolution times, the resulting time-evolution unitary can be efficiently distinguished from Haar-random and fails to form a $2$-design or a pseudorandom unitary (PRU). On the other hand, we prove that this limitation can be overcome by increasing the locality slightly: there exist ensembles of random polylog-local Hamiltonians in one-dimension such that under constant evolution time, the resulting time-evolution unitary is indistinguishable from Haar-random, i.e. it forms both a unitary $k$-design and a PRU. Moreover, these Hamiltonians can be efficiently simulated under standard cryptographic assumptions.
title Random unitaries from Hamiltonian dynamics
topic Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Computational Complexity
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08434