Fock-space anatomy of eigenstates across the many-body localisation transition

TL;DR

This paper investigates the Fock-space structure of eigenstates in a disordered quantum spin chain to understand the many-body localisation transition, revealing a discontinuous correlation length and a Kosterlitz-Thouless-like critical scenario.

Contribution

It introduces Fock-space correlations and a new scaling theory to characterize the MBL transition, connecting local observables with wavefunction multifractality.

Findings

Discontinuous correlation length at the MBL transition

Fock-space correlations linked to local observable discontinuities

Evidence for a Kosterlitz-Thouless-like transition scenario

Abstract

We explore the Fock-space structure of eigenstates across the many-body localisation (MBL) transition in a disordered, interacting quantum spin-1/2 chain. Eigenstate expectation values of spatially local observables, which distinguish an MBL phase from an ergodic one, can be represented in terms of eigenstate amplitudes on the Fock space. Motivated by this, we introduce and study spatial correlations on the Fock space. From these, a correlation length emerges, which is found to vary discontinuously across the MBL transition; and is intimately connected to the discontinuous jump in the multifractal exponents characterising the Fock-space wavefunctions. Exploiting the direct connection between the local observables and Fock-space correlations, we show that the discontinuity in the lengthscale also implies discontinuous behaviour of the local observables across the transition. A scaling theory based on these Fock-space correlations is constructed, which is closely connected to that for the inverse participation ratio. It yields a volume-scale in the ergodic phase and a length-scale in the MBL phase, whose critical properties suggest a Kosterlitz-Thouless-like scenario for the MBL transition, as is predicted by recent phenomenological theories. Finally, we also show how correlation functions on the Fock space reveal the inhomogeneities in eigenstate amplitudes on the Fock space in the MBL phase.