Inducing a transition between thermal and many-body localized states and detecting many-body mobility edges through dissipation

TL;DR

This paper explores how dissipation influences the transition between thermal and many-body localized states, offering a new method to detect many-body mobility edges in quantum systems.

Contribution

It introduces a dissipation-based approach to induce and detect transitions between thermal and MBL states, advancing understanding of many-body mobility edges.

Findings

Dissipation can drive the system into thermal or MBL states regardless of initial conditions.

The study suggests dissipation as a tool to experimentally identify the many-body mobility edge.

System size effects on the dissipation-induced transitions are discussed.

Abstract

The many-body mobility edge (MBME) in energy, which separates thermal states from many-body localization (MBL) states, is a critical yet controversial concept in MBL physics. Here we examine the quasiperiodic $t_1-t_2$ model that features a mobility edge. With the addition of nearest-neighbor interactions, we suggest the potential existence of a MBME. Then we investigate the impact of a type of bond dissipation on the many-body system by calculating the steady-state density matrix and analyzing the transport behavior, and demonstrate that dissipation can cause the system to predominantly occupy either the thermal region or the MBL region, irrespective of the initial state. Finally, we discuss the effects of increasing system size. Our results indicate that dissipation can induce transitions between thermal and MBL states, providing a new approach for experimentally determining the existence of the MBME.