- Letter
Dynamic scaling and Family-Vicsek universality in quantum spin chains
Phys. Rev. B 113, L020405 – Published 9 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/434y-71cd
Abstract
The Family-Vicsek scaling is a fundamental framework for understanding surface growth in nonequilibrium classical systems, providing a universal description of temporal surface roughness evolution. Whether such scaling extends to strongly correlated quantum many-body systems—where dynamics are governed by unitarity, conservation laws, and quantum statistics—remains an open question. Here, we investigate the infinite-temperature dynamics of one-dimensional spin chains, focusing on the well-known XXZ model and the Izergin-Korepin model. We compute the quantum analog of classical surface roughness using the second cumulant of spin fluctuations and demonstrate Family-Vicsek scaling with respect to time and subsystem size. Crucially, we show that the scaling behavior is controlled by both integrability and non-Abelian global symmetries. We identify distinct transport regimes characterized by the dynamical exponent : (i) ballistic transport with , (ii) superdiffusive transport with the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang exponent , and (iii) diffusive transport with the Edwards-Wilkinson exponent . Notably, breaking integrability always drives the system into the diffusive regime. Our results demonstrate that Family-Vicsek scaling extends beyond classical systems, and emerges across quantum many-body models with symmetry.