Many-body localization in the droplet spectrum of the random XXZ quantum spin chain

Abstract

We study many-body localization properties of the disordered XXZ spin chain in the Ising phase. Disorder is introduced via a random magnetic field in the z-direction. We prove a strong form of dynamical exponential clustering for eigenstates in the droplet spectrum: For any pair of local observables separated by a distance ℓ, the sum of the associated correlators over these states decays exponentially in ℓ, in expectation. This exponential clustering persists under the time evolution in the droplet spectrum. Our result applies to the large disorder regime as well as to the strong Ising phase at fixed disorder, with bounds independent of the support of the observables.