Dynamics of many-body localization

Abstract

Following the field theoretic approach of Basko et al., Ann. Phys. 321, 1126 (2006), we study in detail the real-time dynamics of a system expected to exhibit many-body localization. In particular, for time scales inaccessible to exact methods, we demonstrate that within the second-Born approximation that the temporal decay of the density-density correlation function is non-exponential and is consistent with a finite value for $t\to\infty$, as expected in a non-ergodic state. This behavior persists over a wide range of disorder and interaction strengths. We discuss the implications of our findings with respect to dynamical phase boundaries based both on exact diagonalization studies and as well as those established by the methods of Ref. 1.