Signatures of spectral crossovers in the short- and long-range spectral correlations of a disordered spin-chain with Kramers degeneracy

TL;DR

This paper explores spectral crossovers in a disordered quantum spin chain, analyzing short- and long-range correlations and their agreement with random matrix theory, especially focusing on Kramers degeneracy and symmetry-breaking effects.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of spectral crossovers involving GSE limits in a disordered spin chain, including the effects of Kramers degeneracy and symmetry breaking on spectral correlations.

Findings

Short-range correlations match RMT predictions.

Long-range correlations distinguish localized and nonlocalized regimes.

Spectral features evolve with symmetry-breaking magnetic fields.

Abstract

We investigate several distinct spectral crossovers amongst various integrable and quantum-chaotic limits of a 1D disordered quantum spin-1/2 model, by tuning the relative amplitudes of various Hamiltonian parameters to retain or break relevant unitary and antiunitary symmetries. Since we are specially interested in crossovers involving a Gaussian symplectic ensemble (GSE) limit, we carry out all our calculations with an odd number of spins that naturally results in eigenspectra with Kramers degeneracies. The various crossovers are investigated via detailed studies of both short-range (NNSD) and long-range (spectral rigidity and number variance) spectral correlations. The short-range studies show excellent agreement with RMT predictions. One of the highlights of this study is the systematic investigation of the consequences of retaining both eigenvalues corresponding to every Kramers doublet, in a crossover involving the GSE limit, and see how it evolves to a limit where the KD is naturally lifted. The NNSD plot in the GSE limit exhibits a Dirac delta peak at zero splitting and a renormalized GSE hump at finite splitting, whose general analytical form is derived. With an increasing symmetry breaking magnetic field the NNSD shows an interesting, dynamic two-peaked structure that finally converges to the standard GUE lineshape. We explain this trend in terms of a competition between the splittings amongst distinct Kramers doublets and the Zeeman-like splittings induced by a breaking of time-reversal symmetry. In the long-range spectral correlation studies, we shed light on the extent of agreement between our physical spin systems and RMT predictions. Our studies also show that the long-range correlations may serve to distinguish between the two Poissonian limits (nonlocalized and localized) in the reentrant crossovers, which the short-range correlations fail to distinguish.