Eigenstate thermalization hypothesis and eigenstate-to-eigenstate fluctuations

TL;DR

This paper examines the validity of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) in spin chains, showing ETH holds in non-integrable systems but not in integrable ones due to persistent eigenstate-to-eigenstate fluctuations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed energy-resolved analysis of matrix elements, revealing how ETH applies in non-integrable systems and breaks down in integrable systems due to fluctuations.

Findings

ETH holds in non-integrable spin chains with statistically equivalent matrix elements.

Eigenstate-to-eigenstate fluctuations persist in integrable systems.

Breakdown of fluctuation dissipation theorem in integrable systems.

Abstract

We investigate the extent to which the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis~(ETH) is valid or violated in the non-integrable and the integrable spin-$1/2$ XXZ chain. We perform the energy-resolved analysis of the statistical properties of matrix elements $\{O_{\gamma\alpha}\}$ of an observable $\hat{O}$ in the energy eigenstate basis. The Hilbert space is coarse-grained into energy shells of width $\Delta_E$, with which one can define a block submatrix $\tilde{O}^{(b,a)}$ consisting of elements between eigenstates in the $a$th and $b$th shells. Each block submatrix is characterized by constant values of $E_{\gamma\alpha}=(E_\gamma+E_\alpha)/2 \simeq \tilde{E}$ and $\omega_{\gamma\alpha}= (E_\gamma-E_\alpha) \simeq \omega$ up to $\Delta_E$. We will show that all matrix elements within a block are statistically equivalent to each other in the non-integrable case. Their distribution is characterized by $\bar{E}$ and $\omega$, and follows the prediction of the ETH. In stark contrast, eigenstate-to-eigenstate fluctuations persist in the integrable case. Consequently, matrix elements $O_{\gamma\alpha}$ cannot be characterized by the energy parameters $E_{\gamma\alpha}$ and $\omega_{\gamma\alpha}$ only. Our result explains the origin for the breakdown of the fluctuation dissipation theorem in the integrable system. The eigenstate-to-eigenstate fluctuations sheds a new light on the meaning of the ETH.