Dynamics of Constrained Quantum Many-Body Systems

The dynamics of strongly interacting quantum matter is an exciting frontier in theoretical physics. In generic quantum many-body systems that are isolated from their environment, the system's dynamics explores the space of accessible states indiscriminately and is therefore dubbed "ergodic." However, this ergodicity can be subverted in quantum systems subjected to dynamical constraints arising from the interplay of different symmetries. In this talk, I will describe how this arises in a quantum spin model derived from a lattice gauge theory. In particular, I will show how dynamical constraints emerge in a certain limit and demonstrate that these constraints lead to a hierarchy of time scales for the dynamics of elementary excitations. I will also discuss recent experimental results that probe precursors of this physics in a closely related model of interacting fermions.

zoom link