Random matrix theory approach to quantum Fisher information in quantum ergodic systems

We theoretically investigate quantum parameter estimation in quantum chaotic systems. Our analysis is based on an effective description of quantum ergodic systems in terms of a random matrix Hamiltonian. Based on this approach, we derive an analytical expression for the time evolution of the quantum Fisher information (QFI), which we find to have three distinct timescales. Initially, the QFI increase is quadratic in time, characterizing the timescale over which initial information is extractable from local measurements only. This quickly passes into linear increase with slope determined by the decay rate of the measured spin observable. When the information is fully spread among all degrees of freedom, a second quadratic timescale determines the long-time behavior of the QFI. We test our random matrix theory prediction with the exact diagonalization of a nonintegrable spin system, focusing on the estimation of a local magnetic field by measurements of the many-body state. Our numerical calculations agree with the effective random matrix theory approach and show that the information on the local Hamiltonian parameter is distributed throughout the quantum system during the quantum thermalization process.