Subsystem localization

TL;DR

This paper investigates how coupling a subsystem to an Aubry-André bath affects localization, revealing multiple phases with distinct transport behaviors and establishing a connection to the generalized Aubry-André model.

Contribution

It introduces a ladder system model with a bath and subsystem, analyzing phase transitions and transport properties, and maps it to the GAA model, highlighting novel localization phenomena.

Findings

Identifies three phases: delocalized, localized, and fractal, depending on parameters.

Shows ballistic, subdiffusive, and superdiffusive transport regimes in different phases.

Establishes a mapping between the ladder system and the GAA model.

Abstract

We consider a ladder system where one leg, referred to as the ``bath", is governed by an Aubry-Andr\'{e} (AA) type Hamiltonian, while the other leg, termed the ``subsystem", follows a standard tight-binding Hamiltonian. We investigate the localization properties in the subsystem induced by its coupling to the bath. For the coupling strength larger than a critical value ($t'>t'_c$), the analysis of the static properties shows that there are three distinct phases as the AA potential strength $V$ is varied: a fully delocalized phase at low $V$, a localized phase at intermediate $V$, and a weakly delocalized (fractal) phase at large $V$. The fractal phase also appears in a narrow region along the boundary between the delocalized and localized phases. An analysis of the projected wavepacket dynamics in the subsystem shows that the delocalized phase exhibits a ballistic behavior, whereas the weakly delocalized phase is subdiffusive. Interestingly, the narrow fractal phase shows a super- to subdiffusive behavior as we go from the delocalized to localized phase. When $t'<t'_c$, the intermediate localized phase disappears, and we find a delocalized (ballistic) phase at low $V$ and a weakly delocalized (subdiffusive) phase at large $V$. Between those two phases, there is also an anomalous crossover regime where the system can be super- or subdiffusive. Beyond the ballistic phase observed at low $V$, we also identify a superdiffusive regime emerging in the limit $t'/V \ll 1$, which continuously approaches the ballistic behavior as $t' \to 0$. Finally, in some limiting scenario, we also establish a mapping between our ladder system and a well-studied one-dimensional generalized Aubry-Andr\'{e} (GAA) model.