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A many body localization proximity effect

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Rahul Nandkishore

Statistical Mechanics · Submitted 17 Jun 2015

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim The existence of this `many body localization proximity effect' indicates that many body localization is more robust than previously appreciated, and can not only survive coupling to a (weak) heat bath, but can even destroy the bath.

how it is stated · hedged possibility 0.66 read the record →

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arXiv ID1506.05468 (version 1)
Pith IDUW7FU3AK, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review
CitationRahul Nandkishore. "A many body localization proximity effect." arXiv:1506.05468 (2015). https://pith.science/paper/UW7FU3AK
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The compiled record

The paper's own sentences, arranged. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

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Compiled by classifier-1.13-20260917 via OpenRouter, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 4,410 input tokens, $0.0002 reported.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.12 · states limitation 0.13 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.22 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.04 · compares with prior results 0.96 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v1. Results and the main claim are underlined; .

We examine what happens when a strongly many body localized system is coupled to a weak heat bath, with both system and bath containing similar numbers of degrees of freedom. Previous investigations of localized systems coupled to baths operated in regimes where the back action of the system on the bath is negligible, and concluded that the bath generically thermalizes the system. In this work we show that when the system is strongly localized and the bath is only weakly ergodic, the system can instead localize the bath. We demonstrate this both in the limit of weak coupling between system and bath, and in the limit of strong coupling, and for two different types of `weak' bath - baths which are close to an atomic limit, and baths which are close to a non-interacting limit. The existence of this `many body localization proximity effect' indicates that many body localization is more robust than previously appreciated, and can not only survive coupling to a (weak) heat bath, but can even destroy the bath.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#sentencerolethe authors' own workstates the main conclusionstrength
s0 We examine what happens when a strongly many body localized system is coupled to a weak heat bath, with both system and bath containing similar numbers of degrees of freedom. contribution 0.81 0.52 0.03 unclear 0.75
s1 Previous investigations of localized systems coupled to baths operated in regimes where the back action of the system on the bath is negligible, and concluded that the bath generically thermalizes the system. background 0.93 0.03 0.02 asserted 1.00
s2 In this work we show that when the system is strongly localized and the bath is only weakly ergodic, the system can instead localize the bath. result 0.97 0.92 0.89 asserted 0.57
s3 We demonstrate this both in the limit of weak coupling between system and bath, and in the limit of strong coupling, and for two different types of `weak' bath - baths which are close to an atomic limit, and baths which are close to a non-interacting limit. contribution 0.52 0.95 0.09 asserted 1.00
s4 The existence of this `many body localization proximity effect' indicates that many body localization is more robust than previously appreciated, and can not only survive coupling to a (weak) heat bath, but can even destroy the bath. interpretation 1.00 0.74 0.90 hedged possibility 0.66

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: theoretical result 0.79 · evidence from simulation or computation 0.61.

What was examined, and what was not

sources read
  • arXiv listing abstract v1
not examined
  • full text
  • figures and tables
  • references and citing sentences
  • relations to other papers
levels run
  • P abstract
not run
  • S sections
  • T body sentences
  • C citations
  • R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper
Original abstract

We examine what happens when a strongly many body localized system is coupled to a weak heat bath, with both system and bath containing similar numbers of degrees of freedom. Previous investigations of localized systems coupled to baths operated in regimes where the back action of the system on the bath is negligible, and concluded that the bath generically thermalizes the system. In this work we show that when the system is strongly localized and the bath is only weakly ergodic, the system can instead localize the bath. We demonstrate this both in the limit of weak coupling between system and bath, and in the limit of strong coupling, and for two different types of `weak' bath - baths which are close to an atomic limit, and baths which are close to a non-interacting limit. The existence of this `many body localization proximity effect' indicates that many body localization is more robust than previously appreciated, and can not only survive coupling to a (weak) heat bath, but can even destroy the bath.

Human review

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How later papers used it

47 later papers cite it

Evidence: some. 40 of the citing papers share no author with it, and 2 of those carry a confident label from Pith's citation classifier.

Pith read 14 of the 82 citing sentences, choosing only those whose citation markers point at this paper alone, and wrote the paraphrases from them. The summary, the counts, the evidence level, the links and the quotes come from code; the summary counts the papers listed below. A later paper is listed under a label when Pith's citation classifier gives one of its sentences that label at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), Pith's reading finds that the citing paper itself did it, and a second check confirms the paraphrase against the sentence. This section lists uses only. It does not list criticism or disagreement, so their absence here says nothing about how the paper has been received. Papers that share an author with this one are listed apart, under "By the same authors". A quote is the citing authors' own sentence, shown when their paper's licence is CC BY, CC BY-SA or CC0. JSON

Builds on it 1 of 2 papers with this label · 1 by the same authors

By the same authors

Uses its method or tool 1 paper · 1 by the same authors

By the same authors

How the literature uses it

7 arXiv papers cite this in 8 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 5 sentences without a confident label

Cites it as background 3 papers
  • This discovery has led to a period of intense research on the subject of many-body localization (MBL), both in theory [ref] and in experiments [ref] .

    Localization of Extended Quantum Objects · Introduction · 0.93

  • The broadening of local spectra in MBL systems due to low-temperature baths has been studied recently [ref] and the persistence of MBL for small non-thermodynamic baths has been discussed in Refs. [ref] .

    Robustness of many-body localization in the presence of dissipation · Introduction · 0.94

  • Many-body localization (MBL) [ref] has become a subject of intense theoretical [ref] and experimental [ref] interest in recent years as an example of a mechanism by which an interacting many-body system can violate the ergodic hypothesis.

    AC Conductivity Crossover in Localized Superconductors · Introduction · 1.00

What it cites · 2 sentences without a confident label

Cites as support 2 papers
Cites as background 8 papers
  • The behavior of many body localized systems coupled to a thermalizing environment was first examined in [ref] , in the limit where back action on the bath was negligible and the bath could be treated as Markovian.

    A mean-field theory of nearly many-body localized metals · Introduction · 0.81

  • While localization was long believed to occur mainly in systems of non-interacting particles, the recent discovery of many body localization (MBL) [ref] has ignited a blaze of interest in this field.

    On Many-Body Localization for Quantum Spin Chains · Introduction · 0.98

  • It has been realized that quantum localized systems can display a cornucopia of exotic properties, including an emergent integrability [ref] , exotic quantum states of matter [ref] , and unexpected behavior in linear [ref] and non-linear [ref] response.

    Many-body localization in a disordered quantum Ising chain · Introduction · 0.88

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