From Dual Unitarity to Generic Quantum Operator Spreading.

Abstract

Dual-unitary circuits are paradigmatic examples of exactly solvable yet chaotic quantum many-body systems, but solvability naturally goes along with a degree of nongeneric behavior. By investigating the effect of weakly broken dual unitarity on the spreading of local operators, we study whether, and how, small deviations from dual unitarity recover fully generic many-body dynamics. We present a discrete path-integral formula for the out-of-time-order correlator and recover a butterfly velocity smaller than the light-cone velocity, v_{B}<v_{LC}, and a diffusively broadening operator front, two generic features of ergodic quantum spin chains absent in dual-unitary circuit dynamics. The butterfly velocity and diffusion constant are determined by a small set of microscopic quantities, and the operator entanglement of the gates has a crucial role.