Symmetry-Protected Topological Phases in a Rydberg Glass

Kai Li; Jiong-Hao Wang; Yan-Bin Yang; Yong Xu

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.127.263004

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2104.14097

Symmetry-Protected Topological Phases in a Rydberg Glass

Kai Li·Jiong-Hao Wang·Yan-Bin Yang·Yong Xu

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Recent theoretical studies predict that structural disorder, serving as a bridge connecting a crystalline material to an amorphous material, can induce a topological insulator from a trivial phase. However, to experimentally observe such a topological phase transition is very challenging due to the difficulty in controlling structural disorder in a quantum material. Given experimental realization of randomly positioned Rydberg atoms, such a system is naturally suited to studying structural disorder induced topological phase transitions and topological amorphous phases. Motivated by the development, we study topological phases in an experimentally accessible one-dimensional amorphous Rydberg atom chain with random atom configurations. In the single-particle level, we find symmetry-protected topological amorphous insulators and a structural disorder induced topological phase transition, indicating that Rydberg atoms provide an ideal platform to experimentally observe the phenomenon using state-of-the-art technologies. Furthermore, we predict the existence of a gapless symmetry-protected topological phase of interacting bosons in the experimentally accessible system. The resultant many-body topological amorphous phase is characterized by a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariant.

Explore related subjects

cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.mes-hall cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.str-el

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Kai Li, Jiong-Hao Wang, Yan-Bin Yang, Yong Xu. 2021-12-28. Symmetry-Protected Topological Phases in a Rydberg Glass. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.127.263004

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

The critical slowing down in training diffusion models

Computational sampling has been central to the sciences since the mid-20th century. While machine-learning-based approaches have recently enabled major advances, their behavior remains poorly understood, with limited theoretical control over when and why they succeed. Here we provide such insight for diffusion models---a class of generative schemes highly effective in practice---by analyzing their application to the $O(n)$ model of statistical field theory in the Gaussian limit $n \to \infty$. In this analytically tractable setting, we show that training a score model with a one-layer network architecture matching the exact solution exhibits a form of critical slowing down in parameter learning. This slowing down also impacts the generation process, indicating that the well-known difficulties of sampling near criticality persist even for learned generative models. To overcome this bottleneck, we consider the power of architectural depth. We find that using a two-layer architecture drastically reduces the critical slowing down, with the training time scaling logarithmically rather than quadratically with system size. Using a Fourier implementation of the architecture, we further show that this acceleration in training time can be achieved without drastically increasing operational complexity. Taken together, these results demonstrate that diffusion models can overcome the critical slowing down through appropriate architectural design, and establish a controlled framework for understanding and improving learned sampling methods in statistical physics and beyond.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2026

Switching diffusivity selects Pareto tail exponent in random growth with redistribution

Random multiplicative growth with redistribution generates stationary Pareto wealth tails in the Bouchaud-Mézard model, but assumes a fixed multiplicative noise intensity. This is restrictive for physical and financial growth processes, where volatility (diffusivity) is often fluctuating. We replace the constant noise intensity by a switching diffusivity and ask how these fluctuations select the Pareto stationary tail. For a geometric Brownian motion with switching diffusivity, the long-time Gaussian limit holds when the redraw law has finite mean and variance. The asymptotic variance retains a contribution from diffusivity persistence. With redistribution and a general redraw law, the stationary large-wealth problem is characterized by a spectral condition for admissible algebraic modes. For a two-state diffusivity, an exact tail analysis gives a Pareto exponent interpolating between the high-diffusivity slow-refresh limit and the mean-diffusivity fast-refresh Bouchaud-Mézard limit.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2026

Signatures of Nonergodicity in Sparse Random Matrices

The prevalence of sparsity in the Fock space graph of interacting many-body systems motivates an investigation into the spectral statistics of sparse random matrices with on-site disorder. We numerically determine the delocalization-localization transition in the ground state as a function of the sparsity. The short-range energy correlation in the bulk indicates that the Anderson transition at infinite temperature occurs at the critical percolation limit of the sparse graph. By analytically deriving the energy moments and calculating the shifted kurtosis, we show that the critical sparsity threshold matches the Anderson transition. Furthermore, long-range energy correlations in the bulk spectrum reveal a Thouless energy scale, suggesting a broad nonergodic regime within the delocalized phase.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗