The workshop “Tensor networks for quantum many-body dynamics: from ergodicity breaking to dynamical phases of matter”, organised by Maksym Serbyn and Zlatko Papic, took place in Edinburgh between 25 and 28 June 2023.
The workshop brought together experts on tensor networks who brainstormed novel analytical approaches for understanding quantum dynamics as well as state-of-the-art numerical simulations for many-body systems far from equilibrium. The diverse audience consisted of a mix of researchers at different career stages, from countries including UK, Austria, France, Germany, USA and Ireland, and involving five UK postdocs and PhD students.
The central focus of the workshop was quantum many-body dynamics: a highly active and interdisciplinary research area that seeks to understand the process of thermalisation in many-body systems and the conditions under which this process breaks down, allowing for novel dynamical phases of matter to emerge in a nonequilibrium setting. The focus was on new approaches provided by quantum entanglement and tensor-network related techniques to crack these problems. Some of the topics have included: recent progress on understanding thermalisation and its breakdown; experimental platforms for probing quantum dynamics and many-body phases of matter, such as ultracold atoms in optical lattices and NV centers in diamond; state-of-the-art digital quantum simulations with superconducting qubits (GoogleAI) and trapped ions (Quantinuum); measurement-induced phase transitions in quantum circuits; potential of tensor networks in simulating quantum transport, out-of-equilibrium dynamics, and quantum criticality.
The highly-collaborative atmosphere of the workshop led to numerous discussions between the representatives of theoretical, experimental and industry teams, which we hope will lead to new ideas for exploring open problems in many-body physics using tensor networks on quantum computers and quantum simulators.