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Quantum avalanches wipe out the effects of disorder in interacting systems

Experiments on ultracold atoms reveal that disorder doesn’t stop a quantum system of interacting particles from reaching thermal equilibrium. Instead, small thermalized regions ripple like an avalanche through the whole system.
  1. Lea F. Santos

    1. Lea F. Santos is in the Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.

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When electrons move through a disordered material, they zigzag between imperfections. If there is enough disorder, the electrons can become trapped, inhibiting the material’s ability to conduct electricity. This phenomenon is known as Anderson localization, and it was proved to be true for any strength of disorder in a one-dimensional system of wave-like particles, such as electrons1, as long as they don’t interact with one another. The picture changes when they do interact — a case known as many-body localization, which is still a subject of debate. Many-body localization arises only when the strength of the disorder is greater than that of the interactions. Even then, it has been proposed that small regions of weak disorder can accidentally appear and avalanche through the system to destroy the localization2–7. Writing in Nature Physics, Léonard et al.8 demonstrate that this is indeed the case in a system in which ultracold rubidium atoms mimic particles moving through a disordered solid.

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Nature 614, 419-420 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00143-9

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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