Quantum jamming brings quantum mechanics to macroscopic scales

TL;DR

This paper explores how quantum jamming in spin chains with kinetic constraints can lead to macroscopic quantum phenomena, revealing new dynamics and states at large scales due to nonlocal mappings and symmetry effects.

Contribution

It introduces a family of simple kinetic constraints in quantum spin chains and analyzes their impact on macroscopic quantum phenomena and dynamics after unjamming perturbations.

Findings

Quasiparticle scattering and bound state formation occur at macroscopic scales.

Nonlocal mappings alter the scale of observable phenomena.

Symmetry presence influences the effect of microscopic details on macroscopic states.

Abstract

A quantum spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ chain with an axial symmetry is normally described by quasiparticles associated with the spins oriented along the axis of rotation. Kinetic constraints can enrich such a description by setting apart different species of quasiparticles, which can get stuck at high enough density, realising the quantum analogue of jamming. We identify a family of interactions satisfying simple kinetic constraints and consider generic translationally invariant models built up from them. We study dynamics following a local unjamming perturbation in a jammed state. We show that they can be mapped into dynamics of ordinary unconstrained systems, but the nonlocality of the mapping changes the scales at which the phenomena manifest themselves. Scattering of quasiparticles, formation of bound states, eigenstate localisation become all visible at macroscopic scales. Depending on whether a symmetry is present or not, the microscopic details of the jammed state turn out to have either a marginal or a strong effect. In the former case or when the initial state is almost homogeneous, we show that even a product state is turned into a macroscopic quantum state.