English

Non-Hermitian Quantum Many-Body Scar Phase

Quantum Physics 2025-07-31 v1 Statistical Mechanics Strongly Correlated Electrons

Abstract

We introduce a novel non-equilibrium phase -- the quantum many-body scar (QMBS) phase -- that emerges in non-Hermitian many-body dynamics when scarred wavefunctions are selectively stabilized via non-Hermitian driving. Projective measurements, or non-Hermitian counterparts, preferentially reinforce QMBS, counteracting the entropy growth that drives thermalization. As a result, atypical, high-energy scarred wavefunctions that are negligible in the long-time dynamics of closed systems become non-equilibrium steady states. We establish the existence of the QMBS phase and its sharp, first-order phase transition from an ergodic thermal phase, through both analytical arguments and numerical simulations of three representative models: a random quantum circuit model, the SU(q)SU(q) spin model, and the paradigmatic spin-1 XY model.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2507.22583,
  title  = {Non-Hermitian Quantum Many-Body Scar Phase},
  author = {Keita Omiya and Yuya O Nakagawa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.22583},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

45pages, 12 figures, comment welcome!

R2 v1 2026-07-01T04:25:51.481Z