I am a theoretical physicist with a broad interest in how collective behavior emerges in strongly interacting many-body systems, both quantum and classical, especially when they are driven far from equilibrium. Statistical mechanics usually tells us that such systems locally relax to a Gibbs ensemble, after which hydrodynamics takes over to describe large-scale dynamics and relaxation. What fascinates me most, though, are the situations where this familiar picture breaks down. Unconventional conservation laws, hidden symmetries, and unexpected constraints can completely reshape standard thermodynamics and hydrodynamics, giving rise to far more exotic, and intriguing, behavior. Exploring these exceptions is at the core of my research.
To tackle these questions, I particularly enjoy using analytical tools such as field theory and integrability, which can provide non-perturbative and sometimes exact insights. At the same time, I regularly turn to numerical methods, both to guide intuition and to bridge gaps where analytics fall short.
While my work is theoretical, I strongly believe that physics ultimately thrives on dialogue with experiments. Confronting theory with experimental results is essential, not only to keep ideas grounded but also to move closer to real-world applications. For this reason, active collaboration with experimental groups is a central part of my research approach.
Below you can find my main research areas and a list of my works. For a better organization, publications are color-coded depending on the research area.
Integrable quantum systems are a special class of one-dimensional systems that, even though they are strongly interacting, are amenable to exact analytical computations. This peculiarity stems from the presence of infinitely many conservation laws that strongly influence their dynamics. In particular, their large-scale behavior is governed by Generalized Hydrodynamics (GHD).
Nearly integrable models are an unprecedented chance to investigate with non-perturbative methods fundamental questions on transport and thermalization, and offer a powerful theoretical toolbox for experiments beyond other currently available theoretical or numerical frameworks.
At large scales, the difference between quantum and classical systems blurs out, as their emergent hydrodynamics is primarily decided by conservation laws and symmetries rather than intrinsic quantum aspects. The study of classical PDEs can deepen our understanding of quantum systems alike, and help us answer the fundamental question "What does remain of truly quantum effects at large scales?".
In particular, integrable PDEs are a beautiful chapter of mathematical physics with several experimental applications from cold atoms, to photonics and oceanic waves. "Soliton gases" describe the emergent hydrodynamics in these systems, and have deep connections with Generalized Hydrodynamics in quantum models. My research moves at the interface between these two sides of the same coin.
Lattice gauge theories (LGTs) have their roots in high-energy physics, but recent advances in quantum simulators have opened up an exciting new chapter at the crossroads with condensed matter. One of the hallmark features of LGTs is the confinement of fundamental degrees of freedom, much like quarks being bound into mesons or baryons. Similar forms of confinement can also emerge from symmetry breaking or from long-range interactions.
This restricted mobility of excitations gives rise to non-ergodic behavior and unusual transport properties. By uncovering new, generalized forms of thermalization and hydrodynamics, we can gain deeper insight into phenomena ranging from early-universe physics to concrete, near-term experimental realizations.
I am fascinated by seeing advanced theoretical ideas take concrete shape in the lab, and the excitement only grows when I can contribute directly to that process. Interactions with experimentalists are also a constant source of fresh and stimulating questions.
I currently have ongoing collaborations with several experimental groups, most notably:
Prof. Hanns-Christoph Nägerl, University of Innsbruck (cold atoms). Topics: quantum dynamics, generalized hydrodynamics
Prof. Pierre Suret, University of Lille (photonics). Topics: soliton gases.
I am always keen to expand my network of collaborations and to explore new opportunities at the interface between theory and experiments.
Curiosity knows no boundaries: I’m always eager to explore interesting questions beyond my established research areas and, who knows, even start a brand-new line of research along the way.
Soliton gases: historical perspective and recent developments
Hydrodynamics, Fluctuations, and Noise in quantum and classical systems , Bangalore, India 2025
The soliton gas framework provides a statistical description of transport in integrable PDEs, yet the term soliton gas has carried two distinct meanings over the past fifty years: an early thermodynamic program, which stalled in the 1990s, and a later kinetic approach that continues to yield strong results but lacks an understanding of hydrodynamic fluctuations stemming from a missing thermodynamic approach. Recent advances in quantum integrability, especially the Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz and Generalized Hydrodynamics, and their classical limits now offer a path to unifying these two perspectives. This lecture traces this development, highlighting the historical challenges, modern resolutions, and parallels with quantum integrable systems. If time permits, I will also discuss recent experiments leveraging the classical–quantum connection.
Emergent hydrodynamics of Bethe strings in a one‑dimensional Bose gas
Novel Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Many‑Body Dynamics, Les-Houches, 2024
Towards a sine‑Gordon Quantum Simulator with a Quantum Gas Microscope
Munich Conference on QST, Sonthofen, Germany, 2024
Universality is one of the pillars of our understanding and classification of quantum phases of matter: several seemingly unrelated microscopic models, upon coarse-graining, are describable by a handful of collective degrees of freedom.
The sine-Gordon model emerges as the low-energy description of a multitude of physical systems and thus is of central interest for a multifaceted community: building a reliable and highly-tunable sine-Gordon quantum simulator is not only a technical virtuosity, but rather an urgent need with far-reaching applications.
Recent efforts have been directed towards realizing quantum simulators of the model from the interference of two weakly coupled one-dimensional cold atomic gases. However, weak interactions push the emergent field theory close to its semiclassical limit.
In this talk, I will discuss how Bose-Hubbard lattice implementations offer a convenient venue to realize a sine-Gordon simulator deeply in the quantum regime. Furthermore, I will discuss efficient schemes to imprint and detect quantum solitons via a Quantum Gas Microscope.
References:
E. Wybo, M. Knap, and A. Bastianello, PRB 106, 075102 (2022).
E. Wybo, A. Bastianello, M. Aidelsburger, I. Bloch, M. Knap, PRX Quantum 4, 030308 (2023).
Thermodynamics and transport in integrable spin chains
Frontiers of Dispersive Hydrodynamics, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, 2024
The thermodynamics of classical nonlinear waves is a notoriously hard problem, even for integrable models.
The soliton gas picture lifts the zero-density solution of the model to a phenomenological macroscopic description, regarding the system as a gas of extended, but otherwise non-interacting, particles.
In this talk, I will discuss how this simple approach fails in systems with extended solitons, and I will offer semiclassical limits of quantum integrable field theories as an alternative and safe route to the exact thermodynamics.
With this machinery, I will solve the long-standing problem of building the exact thermodynamics of the Landau-Lifschitz model, a classical integrable spin chain, and discuss future perspectives disclosed by these findings.
The hydrodynamics of the 1d Bose gas
I Convegno della Società Italiana di Fisica Statistica‑SIFS, 2021
Out of equilibrium physics of strongly correlated quantum systems is a fascinating yet complex research topic. One-dimensional systems recently attracted a great deal of attention, due to their strongly interacting nature and to the fact that they sit at an extremely alluring sweet spot, at the intersection between the state-of-the-art experimental, numerical, and analytical techniques. Integrability has been at the centre of intense research, fuelled by its promise of delivering exact results far beyond any perturbative or numerical approach. A recent theoretical breakthrough proposed a hydrodynamic approach to nearly-integrable systems and it is a promising pathway in describing experiments.
In this talk, I will introduce the basic hydrodynamic concepts and discuss their application to the 1 dimensional interacting Bose gas: in particular, I will discuss the integrability-breaking effect of external trapping and the late-time thermalization.
Ref: A. Bastianello, A. De Luca, B. Doyon, J. De Nardis, Physical Review Letters 125 (24), 240604
Hydrodynamics of inhomogeneous locally integrable models
Emergent hydrodynamics in integrable quantum many‑body systems and beyond, Trieste, Italy 2020
Generalized hydrodynamics has been nowadays established as an efficient and non-perturbative method to study 1d integrable systems out of equilibrium, with an astonishing agreement between theoretical predictions, numerical simulations and, most importantly, experiments. Inhomogeneities in the dynamics are always present in realistic setups: these could be, for example, external traps or more general inhomogeneous interactions.
In this talk I will present a general framework to include arbitrary smooth inhomogeneities in the hydrodynamic description, as long as they locally preserve the integrability of the model, discussing possible applications on the interacting Bose gas.
Then, I will describe a situation where an apparently smooth inhomogeneity is intrinsically not-homogeneous and exiles the standard hydrodynamics, resulting in bound-state recombination and entropy production: this is the case of an XXZ spin chain pierced with a time-dependent magnetic flux.
Hydrodynamics of inhomogeneous locally integrable models
Emergent hydrodynamics in low dimensional quantum systems, Natal, Brazil, 2019
The relentless hunt to a better understanding of closed one-dimensional systems out-of-equilibrium found the most recent trophy in the Generalized Hydrodynamics (GHD), which is the central topic of this workshop. Immediately after its first formulation, GHD has been promptly extended to include certain smooth perturbations of the Hamiltonian, which nevertheless locally leave the set of (quasi)local conserved charges the same. Integrable systems are usually characterized by a set of couplings and retain their integrability for arbitrary values of the latter, making natural to wonder if smooth changes in this parameter space can be still described by hydrodynamics.
Realization of fractional Fermi seas
The Pauli exclusion principle is a cornerstone of quantum physics: it governs the structure of matter. Extensions of this principle, such as Haldane's generalized exclusion statistics, predict the existence of exotic quantum states characterized by fractional Fermi seas (FFS), i.e. momentum distributions with uniform but fractional occupancies. Here, we report the experimental realization of fractional Fermi seas in an excited one-dimensional Bose gas prepared through ramping cycles in the interaction strength. The resulting excited yet stable Bose-gas states exhibit Friedel oscillations, smoking-gun signatures of the underlying FFS. The stabilization of these states offers an opportunity to deepen our understanding of quantum thermodynamics in the presence of exotic statistics and paves the way for applications in quantum information and sensing.
Exotic critical states as fractional Fermi seas in the one-dimensional Bose gas
Critical quantum field theories occupy a central position in modern theoretical physics for their inherent universality stemming from long-range correlations. As an example, the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) describes a wealth of one-dimensional quantum systems at low temperatures. Its behavior is deeply rooted in the emergence of an effective Fermi sea, leading to power-law correlations and Friedel oscillations. A promising direction to realize systems exhibiting novel universal behavior beyond TLL is through the generalization of the underlying Fermi sea. In this Letter, we show that fractional Fermi seas with reduced occupancy arise in an integrable Bose gas driven out of equilibrium by cyclic changes in interactions from repulsive to attractive. The correlation functions feature signatures of criticality incompatible with a conventional TLL, suggesting a novel critical phase. Our predictions, based on Generalized Hydrodynamics, are directly relevant to cold atoms.
Experimental observation of ballistic correlations in integrable turbulence
Unequal-time correlation functions fundamentally characterize emergent statistical properties in complex systems, yet their direct measurement in experiments is challenging. We report the experimental observation of two-time, ballistic correlations in a photonic platform governed by the focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Using a recirculating optical fiber loop with heterodyne field detection, we acquire the full space-time dynamics of partially coherent optical waves and extract the intensity correlator in stationary states of integrable turbulence. The correlators collapse under ballistic rescaling and quantitatively agree with predictions from Generalized Hydrodynamics evaluated using the density of states obtained via inverse scattering analysis of the recorded fields. Our results provide a direct, parameter-free test of GHD in an integrable waves system.
Observing Bethe strings in an attractive Bose gas far from equilibrium
Bethe strings are bound states of constituent particles in a variety of interacting many-body one-dimensional (1D) integrable quantum models relevant to magnetism, nanophysics, cold atoms and beyond. As emergent fundamental excitations, they are predicted to collectively reshape observable equilibrium and dynamical properties. Small individual Bethe strings have recently been observed in quantum magnets and superconducting qubits. However, creating states featuring intermixtures of many, including large, strings remains an outstanding experimental challenge. Here, using nearly integrable ultracold Bose gases, we realize such intermixtures of Bethe strings out of equilibrium, by dynamically tuning interactions from repulsive to attractive. We measure the average binding energy of the strings, revealing the presence of bound states of more than six particles. We find further evidence for them in the momentum distribution and in Tan's contact, connected to the correlated density. Our data quantitatively agree with predictions from generalized hydrodynamics (GHD). Manipulating intermixtures of Bethe strings opens new avenues for understanding quantum coherence, nonlinear dynamics and thermalization in strongly-interacting 1D systems.
Observation of a generalized Gibbs ensemble in photonics
A. Bastianello, A. Tikan, F. Copie, S. Randoux, P. Suret, Phys. Rev. A 113, 013514,
In generic classical and quantum many-body systems, where typically energy and particle number are the only conserved quantities, stationary states are described by thermal equilibrium. In contrast, integrable systems showcase an infinite hierarchy of conserved quantities that inhibits conventional thermalization, forcing relaxation to a Generalized Gibbs Ensemble (GGE), a concept first introduced in quantum many-body physics. In this study, we provide experimental evidence for the emergence of a GGE in a photonic system. By investigating partially coherent waves propagating in a normal dispersion optical fiber, governed by the one-dimensional defocusing nonlinear Schroedinger equation, we directly measure the density of states of the spectral parameter (rapidity) to confirm the time invariance of the full set of conserved charges. We also observe the relaxation of optical power statistics to the GGE's theoretical prediction, obtained using the experimentally measured density of states. These complementary measurements unambiguously establish the formation of a GGE in our photonic platform, highlighting its potential as a powerful tool for probing many-body integrability and bridging classical and quantum integrable systems.
Universal efficiency boost in prethermal quantum heat engines at negative temperatures
A. Brollo, A. del Campo, A. Bastianello, Nature Communications 16, 10593
Heat engines near the adiabatic limit typically assume a working medium at thermal equilibrium. However, quantum many-body systems often showcase conservation laws that hinder thermalization, leading to prethermalization in exotic stationary phases. This work explores whether prethermalization enhances or reduces engine efficiency. We investigate Otto cycles in quantum systems with varying numbers of conserved quantities. We find that additional conservation laws reduce efficiency at positive temperatures, but enhance it in regimes of negative temperatures. Our findings stem from general thermodynamic inequalities for infinitesimal cycles, and we provide evidence for integrable models undergoing finite cycles using the theoretical framework of Generalized Hydrodynamics. The relevance of our results for quantum simulators is also discussed.
Scattering theory of chiral edge modes in topological magnon insulators
S. Birnkammer, M Knap, J Knolle, A Mook, A Bastianello, Physical Review B 112 (9), 094417 (2025)
Topological magnon insulators exhibit robust edge modes with chiral properties similar to quantum Hall edge states. However, due to their strong localization at the edges, interactions between these chiral edge magnons can be significant, as we show in a model of coupled magnon-conserving spin chains in an electric field gradient. The chiral edge modes remain edge-localized and do not scatter into the bulk, and we characterize their scattering phase: for strongly localized edge modes, we observe significant deviation from the bare scattering phase. This renormalization of edge scattering can be attributed to bound bulk modes resonating with the chiral edge magnons in the spirit of Feshbach resonances in atomic physics. We argue that the scattering dynamics can be probed experimentally with a real-time measurement protocol using inelastic scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Our results show that interaction among magnons can be encoded in an effective edge model of reduced dimensionality, where the interactions with the bulk renormalize the effective couplings. Our work introduces a systematic way to determine the many-body effective theory for edge states in topological magnon insulators.
Landau-Lifschitz Magnets: Exact Thermodynamics and Transport
A. Bastianello, Ž. Krajnik, E. Ilievski, Physical Review Letters 133 (10), 107102
The classical Landau-Lifshitz equation—the simplest model of a ferromagnet—provides an archetypal example for studying transport phenomena. In one-spatial dimension, integrability enables the classification of linear and nonlinear mode spectrum. An exact characterization of finite-temperature thermodynamics and transport has nonetheless remained elusive. We present an exact description of thermodynamic equilibrium states in terms of interacting modes. This is achieved by retrieving the classical Landau-Lifschitz model through the semiclassical limit of the integrable quantum spin-S anisotropic Heisenberg chain at the level of the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz description. In the axial regime, the mode spectrum comprises solitons with unconventional statistics, whereas in the planar regime we find two additional types of modes of radiative and solitonic type. Our framework enables analytical study of unconventional transport properties: as an example we study the finite-temperature spin Drude weight, finding excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.
Sine-Gordon model from coupled condensates: A generalized hydrodynamics viewpoint
The sine-Gordon model captures the low-energy effective dynamics of a wealth of one-dimensional quantum systems, stimulating the experimental efforts in building a versatile quantum simulator of this field theory and fueling the parallel development of new theoretical toolkits able to capture far-from-equilibrium settings. In this work, we analyze the realization of the sine-Gordon model from the interference pattern of two one-dimensional quasicondensates: we argue that the emergent field theory is well described by its classical limit, and we develop its large-scale description based on generalized hydrodynamics. We show how, despite the sine-Gordon model being an integrable field theory, trap-induced inhomogeneities cause instabilities of excitations and provide exact analytical results to capture this effect.
Exact Large-Scale Fluctuations of the Phase Field in the Sine-Gordon Model
GDV. Del Vecchio, M. Kormos, B. Doyon, A. Bastianello, Physical Review Letters 131 (26), 263401
We present the first exact theory and analytical formulas for the large-scale phase fluctuations in the sine-Gordon model, valid in all regimes of the field theory, for arbitrary temperatures and interaction strengths. Our result is based on the ballistic fluctuation theory combined with generalized hydrodynamics, and can be seen as an exact “dressing” of the phenomenological soliton-gas picture first introduced by Sachdev and Young [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2220 (1997)], to the modes of generalized hydrodynamics. The resulting physics of phase fluctuations in the sine-Gordon model is qualitatively different, as the stable quasiparticles of integrability give coherent ballistic propagation instead of diffusive spreading. We provide extensive numerical checks of our analytical predictions within the classical regime of the field theory by using Monte Carlo methods. We discuss how our results are of ready applicability to experiments on tunnel-coupled quasicondensates.
Exact thermodynamics and transport in the classical sine-Gordon model
We revisit the exact thermodynamic description of the classical sine-Gordon field theory, a well-known integrable model. We found that existing results in the literature based on the soliton-gas picture did not correctly take into account light, but extended, solitons and thus led to incorrect results. This issue is regularized upon requantization: we derive the correct thermodynamics by taking the semiclassical limit of the quantum model. Our results are then extended to transport settings by means of Generalized Hydrodynamics.
Preparing and analyzing solitons in the sine-Gordon model with quantum gas microscopes
E. Wybo, A. Bastianello, M. Aidelsburger, I. Bloch, M. Knap, PRX Quantum 4 (3), 030308
The sine-Gordon model emerges as a low-energy theory in a plethora of quantum many-body systems. Here, we theoretically investigate tunnel-coupled Bose-Hubbard chains with strong repulsive interactions as a realization of the sine-Gordon model deep in the quantum regime. We propose protocols for quantum gas microscopes of ultracold atoms to prepare and analyze solitons, which are the fundamental topological excitations of the emergent sine-Gordon theory. With numerical simulations based on matrix product states, we characterize the preparation and detection protocols and discuss the experimental requirements.
Observation of magnon bound states in the long-range, anisotropic Heisenberg model
Over the recent years, coherent, time-periodic modulation has been established as a versatile tool for realizing novel Hamiltonians. Using this approach, known as Floquet engineering, we experimentally realize a long-ranged, anisotropic Heisenberg model with tunable interactions in a trapped ion quantum simulator. We demonstrate that the spectrum of the model contains not only single-magnon excitations, but also composite magnon bound states. For long-range interactions with the experimentally realized power-law exponent, the group velocity of magnons is unbounded. Nonetheless, for sufficiently strong interactions, we observe bound states of these unconventional magnons which possess a nondiverging group velocity. By measuring the configurational mutual information between two disjoint intervals, we demonstrate the implications of bound-state formation on the entanglement dynamics of the system. Our observations provide key insights into the peculiar role of composite excitations in the nonequilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems.
Prethermalization in one-dimensional quantum many-body systems with confinement
S. Birnkammer, A. Bastianello, M. Knap, Nature Communications 13 (1), 7663
Unconventional nonequilibrium phases with restricted correlation spreading and slow entanglement growth have been proposed to emerge in systems with confined excitations, calling their thermalization dynamics into question. Here, we show that in confined systems the thermalization dynamics after a quantum quench instead exhibits multiple stages with well separated time scales. As an example, we consider the confined Ising spin chain, in which domain walls in the ordered phase form bound states reminiscent of mesons. The system first relaxes towards a prethermal state, described by a Gibbs ensemble with conserved meson number. The prethermal state arises from rare events in which mesons are created in close vicinity, leading to an avalanche of scattering events. Only at much later times a true thermal equilibrium is achieved in which the meson number conservation is violated by a mechanism akin to the Schwinger effect. The discussed prethermalization dynamics is directly relevant to generic one-dimensional, many-body systems with confined excitations.
Dynamical hadron formation in long-range interacting quantum spin chains
J. Vovrosh, R. Mukherjee, A. Bastianello, J. Knolle, PRX Quantum 3 (4), 040309
The study of confinement in quantum spin chains has seen a large surge of interest in recent years. It is not only important for understanding a range of effective one-dimensional condensed-matter realizations but it also shares some of the nonperturbative physics with quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which makes it a prime target for current quantum simulation efforts. In analogy to QCD, the confinement-induced two-particle bound states that appear in these models are dubbed mesons. Here, we study scattering events due to meson collisions in a quantum spin chain with long-range interactions such that two mesons have an extended interaction. We show how novel hadronic bound states, e.g., with four constituent particles akin to tetraquarks, may form dynamically in fusion events. In a natural collision their signal is weak, as elastic meson scattering dominates. However, we propose two controllable protocols that allow for a clear observation of dynamical hadron formation. We discuss how this physics can be simulated in trapped-ion or Rydberg-atom setups.
Tunable transport in the mass-imbalanced Fermi-Hubbard model
P. Zechmann, A. Bastianello, M. Knap, Physical Review B 106 (7), 075115
The late-time dynamics of quantum many-body systems is organized in distinct dynamical universality classes, characterized by their conservation laws and thus by their emergent hydrodynamic transport. Here, we study transport in the one-dimensional Hubbard model with different masses of the two fermionic species. To this end, we develop a quantum Boltzmann approach valid in the limit of weak interactions. We explore the crossover from ballistic to diffusive transport, whose timescale strongly depends on the mass ratio of the two species. For timescales accessible with matrix product operators, we find excellent agreement between these numerically exact results and the quantum Boltzmann equation, even for intermediate interactions. We investigate two scenarios which have been recently studied with ultracold-atom experiments. First, in the presence of a tilt, the quantum Boltzmann equation predicts that transport is significantly slowed down and becomes subdiffusive, consistent with previous studies. Second, we study transport probed by displacing a harmonic confinement potential and find good quantitative agreement with recent experimental data [N. D. Oppong et al., arXiv:2011.12411]. Our results demonstrate that the quantum Boltzmann equation is a useful tool to study complex nonequilibrium states in inhomogeneous potentials, as often probed with synthetic quantum systems.
Quantum sine-Gordon dynamics in coupled spin chains
E. Wybo, M. Knap, A. Bastianello, Physical Review B 106 (7), 075102
The sine-Gordon field theory emerges as the low-energy description in a wealth of quantum many-body systems. Recent efforts have been directed towards realizing quantum simulators of the model, by interfering two weakly coupled one-dimensional cold atomic gases. The weak interactions within the atomic clouds provide a sine-Gordon realization in the semiclassical regime. Furthermore, the intricate microscopic dynamics prevents a quantitative understanding of the effective sine-Gordon validity realm. In this work, we focus on a spin-ladder realization and observe the emergent sine-Gordon dynamics deep in the quantum regime. We use matrix-product state techniques to numerically characterize the low-energy sector of the system and compare it with the exact field-theory predictions. From this comparison, we obtain quantitative boundaries for the validity of the sine-Gordon description. We provide encompassing evidence for the emergent field theory by probing its rich spectrum and by observing the signatures of integrable dynamics in scattering events.
Fragmentation and emergent integrable transport in the weakly tilted Ising chain
A. Bastianello, U. Borla, S. Moroz, Physical Review Letters 128 (19), 196601
We investigate emergent quantum dynamics of the tilted Ising chain in the regime of a weak transverse field. Within the leading order perturbation theory, the Hilbert space is fragmented into exponentially many decoupled sectors. We find that the sector made of isolated magnons is integrable with dynamics being governed by a constrained version of the spin Hamiltonian. As a consequence, when initiated in this sector, the Ising chain exhibits ballistic transport on unexpectedly long timescales. We quantitatively describe its rich phenomenology employing exact integrable techniques such as generalized hydrodynamics. Finally, we initiate studies of integrability-breaking magnon clusters whose leading-order transport is activated by scattering with surrounding isolated magnons.
Entanglement dynamics in confining spin chains
S. Scopa, P. Calabrese, A. Bastianello, Physical Review B 105 (12), 125413
The confinement of elementary excitations induces distinctive features in the non-equilibrium quench dynamics. One of the most remarkable is the suppression of entanglement entropy, which in several instances turns out to oscillate rather than grow indefinitely. While the qualitative physical origin of this behavior is clear, till now no quantitative understanding away from the field theory limit was available. Here we investigate this problem in the weak quench limit, when mesons are excited at rest, hindering entropy growth and exhibiting persistent oscillations. We provide analytical predictions of the entire entanglement dynamics based on a Gaussian approximation of the many-body state, which captures numerical data with great accuracy and is further simplified to a semiclassical quasiparticle picture in the regime of weak confinement. Our methods are valid in general and we apply explicitly to two prototypical models: the Ising chain in a tilted field and the experimentally relevant long-range Ising model.
Generalized hydrodynamics of the attractive non-linear Schrӧdinger equation
We study the generalized hydrodynamics of the one-dimensional classical Non Linear Schroedinger equation in the attractive phase. We thereby show that the thermodynamic limit is entirely captured by solitonic modes and radiation is absent. Our results are derived by considering the semiclassical limit of the quantum Bose gas, where the Planck constant has a key role as a regulator of the classical soliton gas. We use our result to study adiabatic interaction changes from the repulsive to the attractive phase, observing soliton production and obtaining exact analytical results which are in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.
Confinement-induced impurity states in spin chains
J. Vovrosh, H. Zhao, J. Knolle, A. Bastianello, Physical Review B 105 (10), L100301
Quantum simulators hold the promise of probing central questions of high-energy physics in tunable condensed matter platforms, for instance the physics of confinement. Local defects can be an obstacle in these setups harming their simulation capabilities. However, defects in the form of impurities can also be useful as probes of many-body correlations and may lead to fascinating new phenomena themselves. Here, we investigate the interplay between impurity and confinement physics in a basic spin chain setup, showing the emergence of new exotic excitations as impurity-meson bound states with a long lifetime. For weak confinement, semiclassical approximations can describe the capture process in a meson-impurity scattering event. In the strong-confining regime, intrinsic quantum effects are visible through the quantization of the emergent bound state energies which can be readily probed in quantum simulators.
Transport through interacting defects and lack of thermalisation
G. Del Vecchio Del Vecchio, A. De Luca, A. Bastianello, SciPost Physics 12 (2), 060
We consider 1D integrable systems supporting ballistic propagation of excitations, perturbed by a localised defect that breaks most conservation laws and induces chaotic dynamics. Focusing on classical systems, we study an out-of-equilibrium protocol engineered activating the defect in an initially homogeneous and far from the equilibrium state. We find that large enough defects induce full thermalisation at their center, but nonetheless the outgoing flow of carriers emerging from the defect is non-thermal due to a generalization of the celebrated Boundary Thermal Resistance effect, occurring at the edges of the chaotic region. Our results are obtained combining ab-initio numerical simulations for relatively small-sized defects, with the solution of the Boltzmann equation, which becomes exact in the scaling limit of large, but weak defects.
Introduction to the special issue on emergent hydrodynamics in integrable many-body systems
Hydrodynamics of weak integrability breaking
We review recent progress in understanding nearly integrable models within the framework of generalized hydrodynamics (GHD). Integrable systems have infinitely many conserved quantities and stable quasiparticle excitations: when integrability is broken, only a few residual conserved quantities survive, eventually leading to thermalization, chaotic dynamics and conventional hydrodynamics. In this review, we summarize recent efforts to take into account small integrability breaking terms, and describe the transition from GHD to standard hydrodynamics. We discuss the current state of the art, with emphasis on weakly inhomogeneous potentials, generalized Boltzmann equations and collision integrals, as well as bound-state recombination effects. We also identify important open questions for future works.
Adiabatic formation of bound states in the one-dimensional Bose gas
R. Koch, A. Bastianello, JS. Caux, Physical Review B 103 (16), 165121
We consider the one-dimensional interacting Bose gas in the presence of time-dependent and spatially inhomogeneous contact interactions. Within its attractive phase, the gas allows for bound states of an arbitrary number of particles, which are eventually populated if the system is dynamically driven from the repulsive to the attractive regime. Building on the framework of generalized hydrodynamics, we analytically determine the formation of bound states in the limit of adiabatic changes in the interactions. Our results are valid for arbitrary initial thermal states and, more generally, generalized Gibbs ensembles.
Thermalization of a trapped one-dimensional Bose gas via diffusion
A. Bastianello, A. De Luca, B. Doyon, J. De Nardis, Physical Review Letters 125 (24), 240604
For a decade the fate of a one-dimensional gas of interacting bosons in an external trapping potential remained mysterious. We here show that whenever the underlying integrability of the gas is broken by the presence of the external potential, the inevitable diffusive rearrangements between the quasiparticles, quantified by the diffusion constants of the gas, eventually lead the system to thermalise at late times. We show that the full thermalising dynamics can be described by the generalised hydrodynamics with diffusion and force terms, and we compare these predictions with numerical simulations. Finally, we provide an explanation for the slow thermalisation rates observed in numerical and experimental settings: the hydrodynamics of integrable models is characterised by a continuity of modes, which can have arbitrarily small diffusion coefficients. As a consequence, the approach to thermalisation can display pre-thermal plateau and relaxation dynamics with long polynomial finite-time corrections.
Generalized hydrodynamics with dephasing noise
A. Bastianello, J. De Nardis, A. De Luca, Physical Review B 102 (16), 161110
We consider the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of an interacting integrable system in the presence of an external dephasing noise. In the limit of large spatial correlation of the noise, we develop an exact description of the dynamics of the system based on a hydrodynamic formulation. This results in an additional term to the standard generalized hydrodynamics theory describing diffusive dynamics in the momentum space of the quasiparticles of the system, with a time- and momentum-dependent diffusion constant. Our analytical predictions are then benchmarked in the classical limit by comparison with a microscopic simulation of the non-linear Schrodinger equation, showing perfect agreement. In the quantum case, our predictions agree with state-of-the-art numerical simulations of the anisotropic Heisenberg spin in the accessible regime of times and with bosonization predictions in the limit of small dephasing times and temperatures.
Exact out-of-equilibrium steady states in the semiclassical limit of the interacting Bose gas
G. Del Vecchio Del Vecchio, A. Bastianello, A. De Luca, G. Mussardo, SciPost Physics 9 (1), 002
We study the out-of-equilibrium properties of a classical integrable non-relativistic theory, with a time evolution initially prepared with a finite energy density in the thermodynamic limit. The theory considered here is the Non-Linear Schrodinger equation which describes the dynamics of the one-dimensional interacting Bose gas in the regime of high occupation numbers. The main emphasis is on the determination of the late-time Generalised Gibbs Ensemble (GGE), which can be efficiently semi-numerically computed on arbitrary initial states, completely solving the famous quench problem in the classical regime. We take advantage of known results in the quantum model and the semiclassical limit to achieve new exact results for the momenta of the density operator on arbitrary GGEs, which we successfully compare with ab-initio numerical simulations. Furthermore, we determine the whole probability distribution of the density operator (full counting statistics), whose exact expression is still out of reach in the quantum model.
Quantum corrections to the classical field approximation for one-dimensional quantum many-body systems in equilibrium
A. Bastianello, M. Arzamasovs, DM. Gangardt, Physical Review B 101 (24), 245157
We present a semiclassical treatment of one-dimensional many-body quantum systems in equilibrium, where quantum corrections to the classical field approximation are systematically included by a renormalization of the classical field parameters. Our semiclassical approximation is reliable in the limit of weak interactions and high temperatures. As a specific example, we apply our method to the interacting Bose gas and study experimentally observable quantities, such as correlation functions of bosonic fields and the full counting statistics of the number of particles in an interval. Where possible, our method is checked against exact results derived from integrability, showing excellent agreement.
Entanglement entropies of inhomogeneous Luttinger liquids
We develop a general framework to compute the scaling of entanglement entropy in inhomogeneous one-dimensional quantum systems belonging to the Luttinger liquid universality class. While much insight has been gained in homogeneous systems by making use of conformal field theory techniques, our focus is on systems for which the Luttinger parameter K depends on position, and conformal invariance is broken. An important point of our analysis is that contributions stemming from the UV cutoff have to be treated very carefully, since they now depend on position. We show that such terms can be removed either by considering regularized entropies specifically designed to do so, or by tabulating numerically the cutoff, and reconstructing its contribution to the entropy through the local density approximation. We check our method numerically in the spin-1/2 XXZ spin chain in a spatially varying magnetic field, and find excellent agreement.
Entanglement spreading and quasiparticle picture beyond the pair structure
The quasi-particle picture is a powerful tool to understand the entanglement spreading in many-body quantum systems after a quench. As an input, the structure of the excitations' pattern of the initial state must be provided, the common choice being pairwise-created excitations. However, several cases exile this simple assumption. In this work, we investigate weakly-interacting to free quenches in one dimension. This results in a far richer excitations' pattern where multiplets with a larger number of particles are excited. We generalize the quasi-particle ansatz to such a wide class of initial states, providing a small-coupling expansion of the Renyi entropies. Our results are in perfect agreement with iTEBD numerical simulations.
Universal late-time dynamics in isolated one-dimensional statistical systems with topological excitations
A. Bastianello, A. Chiocchetta, LF. Cugliandolo, A. Gambassi, Physical Review B 101 (10), 104313
We investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of a class of isolated one-dimensional systems possessing two degenerate ground states, initialized in a low-energy symmetric phase. We report the emergence of a timescale separation between fast (radiation) and slow (kink or domain wall) degrees of freedom. We find a universal long-time dynamics, largely independent of the microscopic details of the system, in which the kinks control the relaxation of relevant observables and correlations. The resulting late-time dynamics can be described by a set of phenomenological equations, which yield results in excellent agreement with the numerical tests.
Entanglement front generated by an impurity traveling in an isolated many-body quantum system
A. De Luca, A. Bastianello, Physical Review B 101 (8), 085139
We investigate the effect on the entanglement dynamics of an impurity moving at constant velocity in a closed quantum system. We focus on one-dimensional strongly-correlated lattice models, both in the presence of integrable and chaotic dynamics. In the former, the slow impurity is preceded by fast quasiparticles carrying an "endogenous" entanglement front which decays in time as a power-law; on the contrary, a fast impurity drags itself an "exogenous" entanglement front which never fades. We argue that these effects are valid for generic systems whose correlations propagate inside a light-cone. To assess the fully chaotic regime, we formulate a random circuit model which supports a moving impurity and a sharp lightcone. Although the qualitative behavior is similar to the integrable case, the endogenous regime is only visible at short times due to the onset of diffusive energy transport. Our predictions are supported by numerical simulations in the different regimes.
Rényi entanglement entropies for the compactified massless boson with open boundary conditions
A. Bastianello, Journal of High Energy Physics 2019 (10), 1-31
We investigate the Rényi entanglement entropies for the one-dimensional massless free boson compactified on a circle, which describes the low energy sector of several interacting many-body 1d systems (Luttinger Liquid). We focus on systems on a finite segment with open boundary conditions and possible inhomogeneities in the couplings. We provide expressions for the Rényi entropies of integer indices in terms of Fredholm determinant-like expressions. Within the homogeneous case, we reduce the problem to the solution of linear integral equations and the computation of Riemann Theta functions. We mainly focus on a single interval in the middle of the system, but results for generic bipartitions are given as well.
Generalized hydrodynamics with space-time inhomogeneous interactions
A. Bastianello, V. Alba, JS. Caux, Physical Review Letters 123 (13), 130602
We provide a new hydrodynamic framework to describe out-of-equilibrium integrable systems with space-time inhomogeneous interactions. Our result builds up on the recently-introduced Generalized Hydrodynamics (GHD). The method allows to analytically describe the dynamics during generic space-time-dependent smooth modulations of the interactions. As a proof of concept, we study experimentally-motivated interaction quenches in the trapped interacting Bose gas, which cannot be treated with current analytical or numerical methods. We also benchmark our results in the XXZ spin chain and in the classical Sinh-Gordon model.
Integrability-protected adiabatic reversibility in quantum spin chains
A. Bastianello, A. De Luca, Physical Review Letters 122 (24), 240606
We consider the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the Heisenberg anisotropic quantum spin--1/2 chain threaded by a time-dependent magnetic flux. In the spirit of the recently developed generalized hydrodynamics (GHD), we exploit the integrability of the model for any flux values to derive an exact description of the dynamics in the limit of slowly varying flux: the state of the system is described at any time by a time-dependent generalized Gibbs ensemble. Two dynamical regimes emerge according to the value of the anisotropy Delta . For Delta>1, reversibility is preserved: the initial state is always recovered whenever the flux is brought back to zero. On the contrary, for Delta<1, instabilities of quasiparticles produce irreversible dynamics as confirmed by the dramatic growth of entanglement entropy. In this regime, the standard GHD description becomes incomplete and we complement it via a maximum entropy production principle. We test our predictions against numerical simulations finding excellent agreement.
Lack of thermalization for integrability-breaking impurities
We investigate the effects of localized integrability-breaking perturbations on the large times dynamics of thermodynamic quantum and classical systems. In particular, we suddenly activate an impurity which breaks the integrability of an otherwise homogeneous system. We focus on the large times dynamics and on the thermalization properties of the impurity, which is shown to have mere perturbative effects even at infinite times, thus preventing thermalization. This is in clear contrast with homogeneous integrability-breaking terms, which display the prethermalization paradigm and are expected to eventually cause thermalization, no matter the weakness of the integrability-breaking term. Analytic quantitative results are obtained in the case where the bulk Hamiltonian is free and the impurity interacting.
From the sinh-Gordon field theory to the one-dimensional Bose gas: exact local correlations and full counting statistics
A. Bastianello, L. Piroli, Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment 2018 (11), 113104
We derive exact formulas for the expectation value of local observables in a one-dimensional gas of bosons with point-wise repulsive interactions (Lieb–Liniger model). Starting from a recently conjectured expression for the expectation value of vertex operators in the sinh-Gordon field theory, we derive explicit analytic expressions for the one-point K-body correlation functions $\langle(\psi^\dagger)^K(\psi)^K\rangle$ in the Lieb–Liniger gas, for arbitrary integer K. These are valid for all excited states in the thermodynamic limit, including thermal states, generalized Gibbs ensembles and non-equilibrium steady states arising in transport settings. Our formulas display several physically interesting applications: most prominently, they allow us to compute the full counting statistics for the particle-number fluctuations in a short interval. Furthermore, combining our findings with the recently introduced generalized hydrodynamics, we are able to study multi-point correlation functions at the Eulerian scale in non-homogeneous settings. Our results complement previous studies in the literature and provide a full solution to the problem of computing one-point functions in the Lieb–Liniger model.
Spreading of entanglement and correlations after a quench with intertwined quasiparticles
We extend the semiclassical picture for the spreading of entanglement and correlations to quantum quenches with several species of quasiparticles that have non-trivial pair correlations in momentum space. These pair correlations are, for example, relevant in inhomogeneous lattice models with a periodically-modulated Hamiltonian parameter. We provide explicit predictions for the spreading of the entanglement entropy in the space-time scaling limit. We also predict the time evolution of one- and two-point functions of the order parameter for quenches within the ordered phase. We test all our predictions against exact numerical results for quenches in the Ising chain with a modulated transverse field and we find perfect agreement.
Generalized hydrodynamics of classical integrable field theory: the sinh-Gordon model
A. Bastianello, B. Doyon, GMT. Watts, T. Yoshimura, SciPost Physics 4 (6), 045
Using generalized hydrodynamics (GHD), we develop the Euler hydrodynamics of classical integrable field theory. Classical field GHD is based on a known formalism for Gibbs ensembles of classical fields, that resembles the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz of quantum models, which we extend to generalized Gibbs ensembles (GGEs). In general, GHD must take into account both solitonic and radiative modes of classical fields. We observe that the quasi-particle formulation of GHD remains valid for radiative modes, even though these do not display particle-like properties in their precise dynamics. We point out that because of a UV catastrophe similar to that of black body radiation, radiative modes suffer from divergences that restrict the set of finite-average observables; this set is larger for GGEs with higher conserved charges. We concentrate on the sinh-Gordon model, which only has radiative modes, and study transport in the domain-wall initial problem as well as Euler-scale correlations in GGEs. We confirm a variety of exact GHD predictions, including those coming from hydrodynamic projection theory, by comparing with Metropolis numerical evaluations.
Exact local correlations and full counting statistics for arbitrary states of the one-dimensional interacting Bose gas
A. Bastianello, L. Piroli, P. Calabrese, Physical review letters 120 (19), 190601
We derive exact analytic expressions for the n-body local correlations in the one-dimensional Bose gas with contact repulsive interactions (Lieb-Liniger model) in the thermodynamic limit. Our results are valid for arbitrary states of the model, including ground and thermal states, stationary states after a quantum quench, and non-equilibrium steady states arising in transport settings. Calculations for these states are explicitly presented and physical consequences are critically discussed. We also show that the n-body local correlations are directly related to the full counting statistics for the particle-number fluctuations in a short interval, for which we provide an explicit analytic result.
Superluminal moving defects in the Ising spin chain
A. Bastianello, A. De Luca, Physical Review B 98, 064304 (2018)
Quantum excitations in lattice systems always propagate at a finite maximum velocity. We probe this mechanism by considering a defect travelling at a constant velocity in the quantum Ising spin chain in transverse field. Independently of the microscopic details of the defect, we characterize the expectation value of local observables at large times and large distances from the impurity, where a Local Quasi Stationary State (LQSS) emerges. The LQSS is strongly affected by the defect velocity: for superluminal defects, it exhibits a growing region where translational invariance is spontaneously restored. We also analyze the behavior of the friction force exerted by the many-body system on the moving defect, which reflects the energy required by the LQSS formation. Exact results are provided in the two limits of extremely narrow and very smooth impurity. Possible extensions to more general free-fermion models and interacting systems are discussed.
Nonequilibrium steady state generated by a moving defect: the supersonic threshold
A. Bastianello, A. De Luca, Physical Review Letters 120 (6), 060602
We consider the dynamics of a system of free fermions on a 1D lattice in the presence of a defect moving at constant velocity. The defect has the form of a localized time-dependent variation of the chemical potential and induces at long times a Non-Equilibrium Steady State (NESS), which spreads around the defect. We present a general formulation which allows recasting the time-dependent protocol in a scattering problem on a static potential. We obtain a complete characterization of the NESS. In particular, we show a strong dependence on the defect velocity and the existence of a sharp threshold when such velocity exceeds the speed of sound. Beyond this value, the NESS is not produced and remarkably the defect travels without significantly perturbing the system. We present an exact solution for a $\delta$-like defect traveling with an arbitrary velocity and we develop a semiclassical approximation which provides accurate results for smooth defects.
Non relativistic limit of integrable QFT with fermionic excitations
The aim of this paper is to investigate the non-relativistic limit of integrable quantum field theories with fermionic fields, such as the O(N) Gross-Neveu model, the supersymmetric Sinh-Gordon and non-linear sigma models. The non-relativistic limit of these theories is implemented by a double scaling limit which consists of sending the speed of light c to infinity and rescaling at the same time the relevant coupling constant of the model in such a way to have finite energy excitations. For the general purpose of mapping the space of continuous non-relativistic integrable models, this paper completes and integrates the analysis done in Ref.[1] on the non-relativistic limit of purely bosonic theories.
Quenches from bosonic Gaussian initial states to the Tonks-Girardeau limit: Stationary states and effects of a confining potential
A. Bastianello, M. Collura, S. Sotiriadis, Physical Review B 95 (17), 174303
We consider the general problem of quenching an interacting Bose gas from the noninteracting regime to the strong repulsive case described by the Tonks-Girardeau limit, with the initial state being a gaussian ensemble for the bosons. A generic multi-point correlation function in the steady state can be fully described in terms of a Fredholm-like determinant suitable both for a numerical study and for an analytical study in certain limiting cases. Finally, we extend the study to the presence of a smooth confining potential showing that, in the thermodynamic limit, the time evolution of the two-point function can be mapped to a classical problem in a properly defined phase-space.
Quasi locality of the GGE in interacting-to-free quenches in relativistic field theories
A. Bastianello, S. Sotiriadis, Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, 023105
We study the quench dynamics in continuous relativistic quantum field theory, more specifically the locality properties of the large time stationary state. After a quantum quench in a one-dimensional integrable model, the expectation values of local observables are expected to relax to a Generalized Gibbs Ensemble (GGE), constructed out of the conserved charges of the model. Quenching to a free bosonic theory, it has been shown that the system indeed relaxes to a GGE described by the momentum mode occupation numbers. We first address the question whether the latter can be written directly in terms of local charges and we find that, in contrast to the lattice case, this is not possible in continuous field theories. We then investigate the less stringent requirement of the existence of a sequence of truncated local GGEs that converges to the correct steady state, in the sense of the expectation values of the local observables. While we show that such a sequence indeed exists, in order to unequivocally determine the so-defined GGE, we find that information about the expectation value of the recently discovered quasi-local charges is in the end necessary, the latter being the suitable generalization of the local charges while passing from the lattice to the continuum. Lastly, we study the locality properties of the GGE and show that the latter is completely determined by the knowledge of the expectation value of a countable set of suitably defined quasi-local charges.
Non Relativistic Limit of Integrable QFT and Lieb-Liniger Models
In this paper we study a suitable limit of integrable QFT with the aim to identify continuous non-relativistic integrable models with local interactions. This limit amounts to sending to infinity the speed of light c but simultaneously adjusting the coupling constant g of the quantum field theories in such a way to keep finite the energies of the various excitations. The QFT considered here are Toda Field Theories and the O(N) non-linear sigma model. In both cases the resulting non-relativistic integrable models consist only of Lieb-Liniger models, which are fully decoupled for the Toda theories while symmetrically coupled for the O(N) model. These examples provide explicit evidence of the universality and ubiquity of the Lieb-Liniger models and, at the same time, suggest that these models may exhaust the list of possible non-relativistic integrable theories of bosonic particles with local interactions.
Cluster expansion for ground states of local Hamiltonians
A. Bastianello, S. Sotiriadis, Nuclear Physics B 909, 1020-1078
A central problem in many-body quantum physics is the determination of the ground state of a thermodynamically large physical system. We construct a cluster expansion for ground states of local Hamiltonians, which naturally incorporates physical requirements inherited by locality as conditions on its cluster amplitudes. Applying a diagrammatic technique we derive the relation of these amplitudes to thermodynamic quantities and local observables. Moreover we derive a set of functional equations that determine the cluster amplitudes for a general Hamiltonian, verify the consistency with perturbation theory and discuss non-perturbative approaches. Lastly we verify the persistence of locality features of the cluster expansion under unitary evolution with a local Hamiltonian and provide applications to out-of-equilibrium problems: a simplified proof of equilibration to the GGE and a cumulant expansion for the statistics of work, for an interacting-to-free quench.