Unified theory of local quantum many-body dynamics: Eigenoperator thermalization theorems

Abstract

Explaining quantum many-body dynamics is a long-held goal of physics. A rigorous operator algebraic theory of dynamics in locally interacting systems in any dimension is provided here in terms of time-dependent equilibrium (Gibbs) ensembles. The theory explains dynamics in closed, open and time-dependent systems, provided that relevant pseudolocal quantities can be identified, and time-dependent Gibbs ensembles unify wide classes of quantum non-ergodic and ergodic systems. The theory is applied to quantum many-body scars, continuous, discrete and dissipative time crystals, Hilbert space fragmentation, lattice gauge theories, and disorder-free localization, among other cases. Novel pseudolocal classes of operators are introduced in the process: projected-local, which are local only for some states, crypto-local, whose locality is not manifest in terms of any finite number of local densities and transient ones, that dictate finite-time relaxation dynamics. An immediate corollary is proving saturation of the Mazur bound for the Drude weight. This proven theory is intuitively the rigorous algebraic counterpart of the weak eigenstate thermalization hypothesis and has deep implications for thermodynamics: quantum many-body systems 'out-of-equilibrium' are actually always in a time-dependent equilibrium state for any natural initial state. The work opens the possibility of designing novel out-of-equilibrium phases, with the newly identified scarring and fragmentation phase transitions being examples.