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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Phase transitions in quantum many-body scars

Peter Græns Larsen and Anne E. B. Nielsen

Phys. Rev. Research 6, L042007 – Published 7 October, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L042007

Abstract

We propose a type of phase transition in quantum many-body systems that occurs in highly excited quantum many-body scar states while most of the spectrum is largely unaffected. Such scar-state phase transitions can be realized by embedding a matrix product state, known to undergo a phase transition, as a scar state into the thermal spectrum of a parent Hamiltonian. We find numerically that the mechanism for the scar-state phase transition involves the formation or presence of low-entropy states at energies similar to the scar state in the vicinity of the phase transition point.

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