Probing Hilbert Space Fragmentation with Strongly Interacting Rydberg Atoms

Abstract

Hilbert space fragmentation provides a mechanism to break ergodicity in closed many-body systems. Here, we propose a feasible scheme to explore this exotic paradigm on a Rydberg quantum simulator. We show that the Rydberg Ising model in the large detuning regime can be mapped to a generalized folded XXZ model featuring a strongly fragmented Hilbert space. The emergent Hamiltonian, however, displays distinct time scales for the transport of a magnon and a hole excitation. This interesting property facilitates a continuous tuning of the Krylov-subspace ergodicity, from the integrable regime, to the Krylov-restricted thermal phase, and eventually to the statistical bubble localization region. By further introducing nonlocal interactions, we find that both the fragmentation behavior and the ergodicity of the Krylov subspace can be significantly enriched. We also examine the role of atomic position disorders and identify a symmetry-selective many-body localization transition. We demonstrate that these phenomena manifest themselves in quench dynamics, which can be readily probed in state-of-the-art Rydberg array setups.