Randomness and structure in quantum many-body dynamics
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mark-dkmark-phd-physics-2026-thesis.pdf
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32.66 MB
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Author(s)
Mark, Daniel K.
Advisor(s)
Choi, Soonwon
Date Issued
May 2026
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
We present several discoveries in quantum many-body dynamics and their applications. We discover types of universal randomness that emerge in many-body dynamics, now known as "deep thermalization" and "Hilbert space ergodicity." These discoveries have been enabled by recent advances in programmable quantum simulators, in particular their capability to perform measurements with unprecedented precision in both space and time. This universality allows for a number of practical applications adapted from the quantum information literature, including benchmarking, noise channel learning and state tomography. These applications rely on naturally-realized quantum dynamics and do not require fine-tuned controls. Hence, they are applicable to analog quantum simulators, and we realize several of these protocols in experiment. These results in emergent randomness are broadly applicable to generic many-body systems. We also discover new structures in specific systems realized in modern experimental platforms, namely in a lattice gauge theory realized in neutral atom arrays, and in optical lattice quantum gas microscopes. Finally, we identify a new type of structure present in the emergent randomness, governed by the presence of anti-unitary symmetries. Together, these results advance our understanding of quantum many-body dynamics and illustrate that much remains to be discovered in this active field of research.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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