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Krylov space dynamics of ergodic and dynamically frozen Floquet systems

Luke Staszewski1,*, Asmi Haldar2, Pieter W. Claeys1,3, and Alexander Wietek1,†

  • *Contact author: lstaszewski@pks.mpg.de
  • †Contact author: awietek@pks.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 165144 – Published 24 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3vgd-y39w

Abstract

In isolated quantum many-body systems periodically driven in time, the asymptotic dynamics at late times can exhibit distinct behavior such as thermalization or dynamical freezing. Understanding the properties of and the convergence towards infinite-time (nonequilibrium) steady states, however, remains a challenging endeavor. We propose a physically motivated Krylov space perspective on Floquet thermalization which offers a natural framework to study rates of convergence towards steady states and, simultaneously, an efficient numerical algorithm to evaluate infinite-time averages of observables within the diagonal ensemble. The effectiveness of our algorithm is demonstrated by applying it to the periodically driven mixed-field Ising model, reaching system sizes of up to 30 spins. Our method successfully resolves the transition between the ergodic and dynamically frozen phases and provides insight into the nature of the Floquet eigenstates across the phase diagram. Furthermore, we show that the long-time behavior is encoded within the localization properties of the Ritz vectors under the Floquet evolution, providing an accurate diagnostic of ergodicity.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 165144– Published 24 April, 2026
  • Received 11 November 2025
  • Revised 25 February 2026
  • Accepted 26 March 2026
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