Signatures of integrability in the dynamics of Rydberg-blockaded chains

TL;DR

This paper investigates the non-thermal, integrable-like behavior of a Rydberg chain, explaining long-lived oscillations and proposing a nearby integrable model that captures the observed dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the experimental Rydberg chain exhibits non-thermal behavior across its spectrum and introduces a local deformation that enhances integrability signatures.

Findings

The Rydberg chain shows non-thermal behavior similar to integrable models.

A local deformation enhances integrability signatures and coherent oscillations.

The system's dynamics are controlled by a proximate integrable point.

Abstract

A recent experiment on a 51-atom Rydberg blockaded chain observed anomalously long-lived temporal oscillations of local observables after quenching from an antiferromagnetic initial state. This coherence is surprising as the initial state should have thermalized rapidly to infinite temperature. In this article, we show that the experimental Hamiltonian exhibits non-thermal behavior across its entire many-body spectrum, with similar finite-size scaling properties as models proximate to integrable points. Moreover, we construct an explicit small local deformation of the Hamiltonian which enhances both the signatures of integrability and the coherent oscillations observed after the quench. Our results suggest that a parent proximate integrable point controls the early-to-intermediate time dynamics of the experimental system. The unconventional quench dynamics in the parent model could signal a novel class of integrable system.