Glimmers of Universality in Nonequilibrium Strongly Correlated Quantum Systems
Aditi Mitra
New York University
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
2:30 p.m.
In-person: QNC 1201
Abstract: Determining the ground states of strongly interacting quantum systems is already notoriously difficult. Is the study of their nonequilibrium dynamics, then, completely hopeless? In this talk, I will argue that despite the enormous complexity of these systems, striking universal structures can still emerge. I will illustrate this through two concrete examples. First, I will discuss operator spreading under unitary time evolution. I will show that, in a recursively generated operator basis, the dynamics of any Hermitian operator can be mapped onto an effective single-particle problem. Remarkably, this effective model possesses a topological phase diagram, which provides a new way to identify and understand universal features of operator dynamics. In the second example, I will discuss how recently explored non-invertible symmetries can strongly constrain long-time quantum dynamics. These symmetries generalize familiar notions of symmetry and include, as a paradigmatic example, the celebrated Kramers–Wannier duality of the Ising model. I will show how such symmetries can obstruct rapid heating and thereby impose nontrivial structure on the long-time behavior of driven interacting quantum systems.
View the full Fall Quantum Matters seminar schedule: Anton Burkov's website - Quantum Matter Seminars