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Liouvillian Spectral Transition in Noisy Quantum Many-Body Scars

Jin-Lou Ma1,*, Zexian Guo1,*, Yu Gao1, Zlatko Papić2,†, and Lei Ying1,‡

  • 1School of Physics and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Quantum Chips and Quantum Control, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
  • 2School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: z.papic@leeds.ac.uk
  • ‡Contact author: leiying@zju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 180401 – Published 29 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4my3-vk6c

Abstract

Understanding the behavior of quantum many-body systems under decoherence is essential for developing robust quantum technologies. Here, we examine the fate of weak ergodicity breaking in systems hosting quantum many-body scars when subject to local pure dephasing—an experimentally relevant form of environmental noise. Focusing on a large class of models with an approximate su(2)-structured scar subspace, we show that scarred eigenmodes of the Liouvillian exhibit a transition reminiscent of spontaneous PT-symmetry breaking as the dephasing strength increases. Unlike previously studied non-Hermitian mechanisms, this transition arises from a distinct quantum jump effect. Remarkably, in platforms such as the XY spin ladder and PXP model of Rydberg atom arrays, the critical dephasing rate shows only weak dependence on the system size, revealing an unexpected robustness of scarred dynamics in noisy environments.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 180401– Published 29 October, 2025
  • Received 21 April 2025
  • Revised 10 August 2025
  • Accepted 7 October 2025
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