Periodically driven random quantum spin chains: real-space renormalization for Floquet localized phases

Abstract

When random quantum spin chains are submitted to some periodic Floquet driving, the eigenstates of the time-evolution operator over one period can be localized in real space. For the case of periodic quenches between two Hamiltonians (or periodic kicks), where the time-evolution operator over one period reduces to the product of two simple transfer matrices, we propose a block-self-dual renormalization procedure to construct the localized eigenstates of the Floquet dynamics. We also discuss the corresponding strong disorder renormalization procedure, that generalizes the RSRG-X procedure to construct the localized eigenstates of time-independent Hamiltonians.