Exploring Hilbert-Space Fragmentation on a Superconducting Processor
Isolated interacting quantum systems generally thermalize, yet there are several examples for the breakdown of ergodicity, such as many-body localization and quantum scars. Recently, ergodicity breaking has been observed in systems subjected to linear potentials, termed Stark many-body localization. This phenomenon is closely associated with Hilbert-space fragmentation, characterized by a strong dependence of dynamics on initial conditions. Here, we explore initial-state-dependent dynamics using a ladder-type superconducting processor with up to 24 qubits, which enables precise control of the qubit frequency and initial-state preparation. In systems with linear potentials, we experimentally observe distinct nonequilibrium dynamics for initial states with the same quantum numbers and energy, but with varying domain-wall numbers. Accompanied by the numerical simulation for systems with larger sizes, we reveal that this distinction becomes increasingly pronounced as the system size grows, in contrast with weakly disordered interacting systems. Our results provide convincing experimental evidence of the fragmentation in Stark systems, enriching our understanding of the weak breakdown of ergodicity.
Authors
- Kui Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4120-2050)
- Chi-Tong Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1070-2359)
- Zhongcheng Xiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0734-1217)
- Yun‐Hao Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1130-4280)
- Yong-Yi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1440-6354)
- Kai Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7792-8235)
- Xiaohui Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5521-9761)
- Zheng‐Hang Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3583-1667)
- Hao-Tian Liu
- Wei-Guo Ma
- Haifeng Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5963-8266)
- Zhenyu Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4574-425X)
- Zheng‐An Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2372-2028)
- Yu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1869-5811)
- Hao Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6946-4362)
- Kaixuan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8845-2770)
- Dongning Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5895-0111)
- Heng Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5328-2449)
- Ziting Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4070-1284)
- Guangming Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7156-2017)
- Tianming Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8644-4272)
- Cheng-Lin Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2819-6533)
- Y.-S. He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4215-3130)
- Jiachi Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9887-7032)
- Zheng-He Liu
Institutions
- University of Augsburg (DE)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hefei University (CN)
- Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (CN)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Razi Hospital (IR)
- Quantum Science Center of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (CN)
- University College of Applied Science (PS)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PRX Quantum
- Published
- 2025-02-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/prxquantum.6.010325
- Citations
- 13
- Primary Topic
- Quantum many-body systems
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 16.21
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province
- Beijing Nova Program