Universal scaling of higher-order cumulants in quantum isotropic spin chains

TL;DR

This paper uncovers universal scaling laws of higher-order cumulants in quantum isotropic spin chains, revealing anomalous and superdiffusive behaviors in nonlocal correlations, and challenges existing universality classes like KPZ.

Contribution

It identifies universal scaling laws of higher-order cumulants in the Heisenberg model, revealing anomalous behaviors and breaking KPZ universality in certain regimes.

Findings

Higher-order cumulants follow universal power laws.

Anomalous diffusive and superdiffusive dynamics are characterized.

Breakdown of KPZ universality in higher-order correlations.

Abstract

Understanding universal behavior of far-from-equilibrium transport dynamics at a quantum many body level is a longstanding challenge. In particular, a full characterization of universal dynamics of nonlocal correlation functions still remains largely unknown. In this letter, we uncover universal scaling laws of higher-order cumulants in one-dimensional isotropic Heisenberg model, revealing anomalous behaviors of nonequilibrium dynamics exclusively accessible in higher-order correlations. By means of numerical simulations and full counting statistics, we determine the power laws of both the spin polarization transfer and contrast cumulants for different kinds of helix and domain-wall initial states. Building on such physical states, we unify the scaling behavior of the higher-order cumulants, giving rise to two types of dynamics: anomalous diffusive and superdiffusive. For the former, these higher cumulants show a deviation from Gaussian statistics, with the scaling exponents being identical for the first four orders. For the latter, however, we observe a breakdown of KPZ universality, with the exponents of the third and fourth orders differing significantly from those of the first two. Our results are also agreeable with recent experimental observations, advancing understanding of far-from-equilibrium transport phenomena.