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Exact Hilbert-space ergodicity from continuous monitoring

Quantum Physics 2026-06-27 v1 Quantum Gases Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

Quantum evolution is generally expected to drive a quantum many-body system toward equilibrium. This expectation is often justified by the Hilbert-space ergodicity of generic quantum dynamics, namely, the idea that pure-state evolution explores Hilbert space uniformly up to physical constraints. Such a statement can be made rigorous by requiring the associated state ensemble to form the Haar-random ensemble, or its more structured generalization, the Scrooge ensemble. In this Letter, we report the emergence of exact Hilbert-space ergodicity in a continuously monitored quantum many-body system. For any target density matrix σ\sigma, we construct a continuously monitored system for which we rigorously prove that the Scrooge ensemble of σ\sigma is the unique late-time equilibrium distribution of quantum trajectories. Remarkably, this requires only that the jump operators in the monitoring form a deformed unitary 1-design, a seemingly much weaker condition than full ergodicity. We numerically demonstrate our predictions by simulating continuously monitored systems whose equilibrium states are thermal states. Our results establish a rigorous mechanism for the emergence of Hilbert-space ergodicity and provide a practical route for its investigation on quantum devices.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2606.29042,
  title  = {Exact Hilbert-space ergodicity from continuous monitoring},
  author = {Yue Wu and Yuzhi Tong and Liang Mao and Pengfei Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.29042},
  year   = {2026}
}