Reaction-diffusion dynamics in a Fibonacci chain: Interplay between classical and quantum behavior

Abstract

We study the reaction-diffusion dynamics of Fibonacci anyons in a one dimensional lattice. Due to their non-Abelian nature, besides the position degree of freedom (DOF), these anyons also have a nonlocal internal DOF, which can be characterized by a fusion tree. We first consider a pure-reaction dynamics associated with the internal DOF, which is of intrinsically quantum origin, with either an "all-$\tau$" or "completely random" initial fusion tree. These two fusion trees are unstable and likely stable steady states for the internal DOF, respectively. We obtain the decay rate of the anyon number for these two cases exactly. Still using these two initial fusion trees, we study the full reaction-diffusion dynamics, and find an interesting interplay between classical and quantum behaviors: These two fusion trees are still respectively unstable and likely stable steady states of the internal DOF, while the dynamics of the position DOF can be mapped to a hybrid classical $A+A\rightarrow 0$ and $A+A\rightarrow A$ reaction-diffuson dynamics, with the relative reaction rates of these two classical dynamics determined by the state of the nonlocal internal DOF. In particular, the anyon density at late times are given by $\rho(t)=\frac{c}{\sqrt{8\pi}}(Dt)^{-\Delta}$, where $D$ is a non-universal diffusion constant, $\Delta=1/2$ is superuniversal, and $c$ is universal and can be obtained exactly in terms of the fusion tree structure. Specifically, $c=\frac{2\varphi}{\varphi+1}$ and $c=\frac{2(4\varphi+3)}{5(\varphi+1)}$ for the all-$\tau$ and completely random configuration respectively, where $\varphi=\frac{\sqrt{5}+1}{2}$ is the golden ratio. We also study the two-point correlation functions.