Exact localized and ballistic eigenstates in disordered chaotic spin ladders and the Fermi-Hubbard model

We demonstrate the existence of exact atypical many-body eigenstates in a class of disordered, interacting one-dimensional quantum systems that includes the Fermi-Hubbard model as a special case. These atypical eigenstates, which generically have finite energy density and are exponentially many in number, are populated by noninteracting excitations. They can exhibit Anderson localization with area-law eigenstate entanglement or, surprisingly, ballistic transport at any disorder strength. These properties differ strikingly from those of typical eigenstates nearby in energy, which we show give rise to diffusive transport as expected in a chaotic quantum system. We discuss how to observe these atypical eigenstates in cold-atom experiments realizing the Fermi-Hubbard model, and comment on the robustness of their properties.