# Many-body localization in a quasiperiodic system

## Author(s): Iyer, Shankar; Oganesyan, Vadim; Refael, Gil; Huse, David A

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 Abstract: Recent theoretical and numerical evidence suggests that localization can survive in disordered many-body systems with very high energy density, provided that interactions are sufficiently weak. Stronger interactions can destroy localization, leading to a so-called many-body localization transition. This dynamical phase transition is relevant to questions of thermalization in extended quantum systems far from the zero-temperature limit. It separates a many-body localized phase, in which localization prevents transport and thermalization, from a conducting (“ergodic”) phase in which the usual assumptions of quantum statistical mechanics hold. Here, we present numerical evidence that many-body localization also occurs in models without disorder but rather a quasiperiodic potential. In one dimension, these systems already have a single-particle localization transition, and we show that this transition becomes a many-body localization transition upon the introduction of interactions. We also comment on possible relevance of our results to experimental studies of many-body dynamics of cold atoms and nonlinear light in quasiperiodic potentials. Publication Date: Apr-2013 Electronic Publication Date: 8-Apr-2013 Citation: Iyer, Shankar, Oganesyan, Vadim, Refael, Gil, Huse, David A. (2013). Many-body localization in a quasiperiodic system. Physical Review B, 87 (13), 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.134202 DOI: doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.87.134202 ISSN: 1098-0121 EISSN: 1550-235X Type of Material: Journal Article Journal/Proceeding Title: Physical Review B Version: Author's manuscript