REVIEW 2 major objections 5 minor 122 references
Symmetry-breaking measurements drive a U(1)-symmetric monitored circuit into the same measurement-induced criticality as a circuit with no symmetry at all.
Reviewed by Pith at T0; open to challenge. T0 means a machine referee read the full paper against a public rubric. the ladder, T0–T4 →
T0 review · grok-4.5
2026-07-10 04:41 UTC pith:NACJYPCR
load-bearing objection Clean proof that symmetry-breaking measurements kill charge sharpening and push the MIPT into the ordinary non-symmetric class; numerics back it up. the 2 major comments →
Universality of Measurement-Induced Criticality under Symmetry-Breaking Measurements
The pith
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
At the measurement-induced phase transition of a U(1)-symmetric random circuit, local projective measurements that break the U(1) symmetry are a relevant perturbation. They drive the entanglement critical point into the same universality class as the corresponding non-symmetric monitored circuit, and they keep the charge correlation length finite at every measurement rate, eliminating the charge-sharpening transition that appears when measurements preserve the symmetry.
What carries the argument
The large-d replica mapping of the trajectory-averaged entanglement entropy onto a two-dimensional classical statistical model whose charge sector is a symmetric simple exclusion process with disordered defects that create and annihilate charge; the finite correlation length of that process is proved by bounding the survival probability of a Brownian particle that is annihilated by every measurement.
Load-bearing premise
That the large-dimension mapping continues to fix the universality class at ordinary qubit dimension, so that the modest system sizes already show the asymptotic non-symmetric exponents rather than a long crossover controlled by a still-large charge correlation length.
What would settle it
A finite-size scaling analysis of the same U(1)-symmetric Haar circuit at d=1, but with measurements only weakly tilted away from the charge-preserving Z basis, that yields a distinct Rényi-index dependence of the critical entanglement coefficient α(n) incompatible with the non-symmetric Haar values, or a clear charge-sharpening signature at intermediate measurement rates.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The manuscript studies measurement-induced phase transitions (MIPTs) in U(1)-symmetric random circuits when local projective measurements explicitly break the conservation law. The central claim is that such measurements are a relevant perturbation: at large scales the entanglement transition belongs to the same universality class as the corresponding non-symmetric monitored circuit, and the charge correlation length remains finite for any measurement rate p>0, ruling out a charge-sharpening transition. In the large-d limit the trajectory-averaged entanglement is mapped via the replica trick and Weingarten calculus to a classical statistical model whose charge sector is a symmetric simple exclusion process with disordered defects; a dual Brownian representation then yields an almost-sure exponential decay of charge correlators. Finite-d support is provided by finite-size scaling of the tripartite mutual information and Rényi-index dependence of the critical entanglement for both U(1)-Haar (L≤24) and U(1)-Clifford (L≤2048) circuits, with critical parameters and scaling functions matching the non-symmetric literature values rather than the symmetry-preserving ones.
Significance. The result cleanly settles a natural question left open by the symmetry-preserving literature (Agrawal et al., Barratt et al.): whether breaking the conservation law only in the measurement channel is enough to restore the generic MIPT universality class. The large-d argument is self-contained and rigorous—the survival-probability bound EX[CX]≤(1/4)(1−p)2t together with Markov and Borel–Cantelli (App. A) is a genuine proof that charge correlations cannot diverge. The Clifford numerics reach L=2048 and produce a clean data collapse onto the non-symmetric scaling function after a single non-universal rescaling, which is strong independent evidence. The observation that U(1)-Clifford circuits have no MIPT under symmetry-preserving measurements but acquire one under symmetry-breaking measurements is a sharp, falsifiable prediction. These strengths make the paper a solid contribution to the theory of monitored circuits.
major comments (2)
- Sec. 4 and Fig. 4: the strongest finite-d diagnostic is the Rényi-index dependence α(n)=a(1+1/n)+b, which matches the non-symmetric Haar values of Zabalo et al. rather than the U(1)-preserving values of Agrawal et al. With only L≤24 the logarithmic window is short; the manuscript should report the systematic uncertainty on a and b under variation of Lmin (analogous to the App. C analysis already performed for pc and ν) so that the reader can judge how robust the discrimination between the two universality classes remains.
- Sec. 3.4 and App. A.2: the analytic bound on the typical charge correlation length is derived for the large-d SSEP. The manuscript correctly notes that a parametrically large ξ(θ) for nearly symmetry-preserving measurements can produce long crossovers at finite d. A short quantitative estimate (even a rough scaling argument) of the system size needed to exit that crossover for the Haar d=1 data would strengthen the claim that L=24 already probes the asymptotic non-symmetric fixed point rather than an intermediate regime.
minor comments (5)
- Fig. 1 caption and Sec. 2: the local Hilbert space is C2⊗Cd; it would help the reader if the figure explicitly labels which factor is measured in the X basis and which is measured in a fixed qudit basis.
- Eq. (24) and the surrounding text: the measurement operator M is written without the conventional probability-conserving normalization; a one-sentence reminder that the 2^{NX} factor is restored when computing expectation values would avoid confusion for readers less familiar with the disordered SSEP literature.
- App. C: the two fitting procedures (polynomial collapse and cost-function minimization) are carefully documented; adding the numerical value of the minimal cost S(p∗c,ν∗) for the Clifford data would make the quality of the collapse more transparent.
- References: the recent works on noise as a symmetry-breaking field (e.g. Dias et al., Liu et al.) are cited in the discussion of random measurement bases; a brief cross-reference in Sec. 3.4 would better situate App. B within that literature.
- Typographical: “themeasurement-inducedphasetransition” (abstract) and a few missing spaces after commas in the large-d section should be cleaned up.
Circularity Check
No significant circularity: large-d charge-correlation bound is derived from the SSEP transfer matrix and measurement operator; finite-d exponents are compared to independent external literature values.
full rationale
The central analytic claim (finite charge correlation length for any p>0, ruling out charge sharpening) follows by direct calculation from the one-replica SSEP transfer matrix (Eq. 23/38) and the X-measurement operator (Eq. 24/39). The dual Brownian representation yields the average bound EX[CX(z,t)]≤(1/4)(1-p)2t (Eq. 29/A.54) and, via Markov + Borel–Cantelli, the almost-sure liminf bound (Eqs. A.55–A.58). These steps do not invoke fitted parameters, self-referential definitions, or load-bearing self-citations; they are first-principles consequences of the model constructed in Sec. 3. At finite d the extracted ν and α(n) coefficients are compared to published non-symmetric Haar/Clifford values (Zabalo et al., Gullans–Huse) rather than being forced by construction from the present data. Self-citations are limited to standard technical tools (Weingarten calculus, Stim) that are externally verified and not used to close a logical loop. The derivation chain is therefore self-contained against external benchmarks.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
free parameters (4)
- pc (Haar d=1) =
0.143(3)
- ν (Haar d=1) =
1.3(2)
- pc (U(1) Clifford) =
0.0851(1)
- ν (U(1) Clifford) =
1.27(3)
axioms (4)
- domain assumption In the d→∞ limit the averaged replicated Haar gate reduces to the projector given by Weingarten calculus (Eq. 13), and unmeasured bonds force identical permutations.
- domain assumption The replica limit k→0 of the Rényi entropy can be taken inside the statistical model, yielding a Q=1 classical partition function.
- domain assumption The dynamical exponent of the MIPT is z=1, so that steady-state data can be taken at t∝L.
- standard math Two-dimensional bond percolation has pc=1/2 and ν=4/3.
read the original abstract
We study the critical properties of random quantum circuits with a $U(1)$ symmetry subject to local projective measurements that explicitly break this symmetry. We find that, at the measurement-induced phase transition, symmetry-breaking measurements act as a relevant perturbation at large scales, leading to the same universal critical properties as the corresponding monitored random circuit with non-symmetric unitary dynamics. In particular, we consider monitored $U(1)$-symmetric Haar-random circuits in the limit of large local Hilbert-space dimension, where the trajectory-averaged entanglement entropy can be exactly obtained in terms of a classical statistical mechanics model. In this model, the charge associated with the conservation law follows a symmetric simple exclusion process, in which symmetry-breaking measurements correspond to disordered defects that create and destroy charges. We prove that the charge correlation length remains finite for any measurement rate, ruling out a charge-sharpening transition, in contrast to the case of symmetry-preserving measurements. We further support our predictions at finite local Hilbert-space dimension through numerical finite-size scaling analyses of the entanglement transition in monitored $U(1)$-symmetric Haar and stabilizer random circuits.
Figures
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[1]
M. P. Fisher, V. Khemani, A. Nahum, and S. Vijay,Random quantum circuits, Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys.14, 335 (2023)
work page 2023
-
[2]
A. C. Potter and R. Vasseur,Entanglement Dynamics in Hybrid Quantum Circuits, in Entanglement in Spin Chains: From Theory to Quantum Technology Applications, (Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2022), pp. 211–249
work page 2022
-
[3]
P. Calabrese and J. Cardy,Evolution of entanglement entropy in one-dimensional systems, J. Stat. Mech. (2005) P04010
work page 2005
-
[4]
V. Alba and P. Calabrese,Entanglement and thermodynamics after a quantum quench in integrable systemsPNAS114, 7947 (2017)
work page 2017
- [5]
-
[6]
Coarse-grained dynamics of operator and state entanglement
C. Jonay, D. A. Huse, and A. Nahum,Coarse-grained dynamics of operator and state entanglement, arXiv:1803.00089
work page internal anchor Pith review Pith/arXiv arXiv
-
[7]
B. Skinner, J. Ruhman, and A. Nahum,Measurement-Induced Phase Transitions in the Dynamics of Entanglement, Phys. Rev. X9, 031009 (2019)
work page 2019
-
[8]
Y. Li, X. Chen, M. P. A. Fisher,Quantum Zeno Effect and the Many-body Entangle- ment TransitionPhys. Rev. B98, 205136 (2018)
work page 2018
-
[9]
A. Chan, R. M. Nandkishore, M. Pretko, and G. Smith.Unitary- projective entangle- ment dynamics, Phys. Rev. B99, 224307 (2019)
work page 2019
-
[10]
X. Cao, A. Tilloy, and A. De Luca,Entanglement in a fermion chain under continuous monitoring, SciPost Phys.7, 024 (2019)
work page 2019
-
[11]
M. Szyniszewski, A. Romito, and H. Schomerus,Universality of Entanglement Tran- sitions from Stroboscopic to Continuous Measurements, Phys. Rev. Lett.125, 210602 (2020)
work page 2020
-
[12]
O. Alberton, M. Buchhold, and S. Diehl,Entanglement Transition in a Monitored Free-Fermion Chain: From Extended Criticality to Area Law, Phys. Rev. Lett.126, 170602 (2021)
work page 2021
-
[13]
M. Buchhold, Y. Minoguchi, A. Altland, and S. Diehl,Effective Theory for the Measurement-Induced Phase Transition of Dirac Fermions, Phys. Rev. X11, 041004 (2021)
work page 2021
-
[14]
S.-K. Jian, C. Liu, X. Chen, B. Swingle, and P. Zhang,Measurement-Induced Phase Transition in the Monitored Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev Model, Phys. Rev. Lett.127, 140601 (2021)
work page 2021
-
[15]
X. Turkeshi, A. Biella, R. Fazio, M. Dalmonte, and M. Schiró,Measurement-induced entanglement transitions in the quantum Ising chain: From infinite to zero clicks, Phys. Rev. B103, 224210 (2021)
work page 2021
- [16]
- [17]
- [18]
-
[19]
M. Fava, L. Piroli, T. Swann, D. Bernard, and A. Nahum,Nonlinear Sigma Models for Monitored Dynamics of Free Fermions, Phys. Rev. X13, 041045 (2023)
work page 2023
-
[20]
I. Poboiko, P. Pöpperl, I. V. Gornyi, and A. D. Mirlin,Theory of free fermions under random projective measurements, Phys. Rev. X13, 041046 (2023)
work page 2023
-
[21]
M. Fava, L. Piroli, D. Bernard, and A. Nahum,Monitored fermions with conserved charge, Phys. Rev. Research6, 043246 (2024)
work page 2024
-
[22]
I. Poboiko, I. V. Gornyi, and D. Mirlin,Measurement-induced phase transition for free fermions above one dimension, Phys. Rev. Lett.132, 110403 (2024)
work page 2024
-
[23]
G. Di Fresco, B. Spagnolo, D. Valenti, and A. Carollo,Metrology and multipartite entanglement in measurement-induced phase transition, Quantum8, 1326 (2024)
work page 2024
-
[24]
I. Poboiko, P. Pöpperl, I. V. Gornyi, and A. D. Mirlin,Measurement-induced transi- tions for interacting fermions, Phys. Rev. B111, 024204 (2025)
work page 2025
-
[25]
A. Delmonte, Z. Li, G. Passarelli, E. Y. Song, D. Barberena, A. M. Rey, and R. Fazio,Measurement-induced phase transitions in monitored infinite-range interacting systems, Phys. Rev. Research7, 023082 (2025)
work page 2025
-
[26]
C. Noel, P. Niroula, D. Zhu, et al.,Measurement-induced quantum phases realized in a trapped-ion quantum computer, Nat. Phys.18, 760 (2022)
work page 2022
-
[27]
J. M. Koh, S.-N. Sun, M. Motta, and A. J. Minnich,Measurement-induced entan- glement phase transition on a superconducting quantum processor with mid-circuit readout, Nat. Phys.19, 1314 (2023)
work page 2023
-
[28]
Google Quantum AI and Collaborators,Measurement-induced entanglement and tele- portation on a noisy quantum processor, Nature622, 481 (2023)
work page 2023
-
[29]
U. Agrawal, J. Lopez-Piqueres, R. Vasseur, S. Gopalakrishnan, and A. C. Potter, Observing Quantum Measurement Collapse as a Learnability Phase Transition, Phys. Rev. X14, 041012 (2024)
work page 2024
-
[30]
H. Kamakari, J. Sun, Y. Li, J. J. Thio, T. P. Gujarati, M. P. A. Fisher, M. Motta, and A. J. Minnich,Experimental demonstration of scalable cross-entropy benchmark- ing to detect measurement-induced phase transitions on a superconducting quantum processor, Phys. Rev. Lett.134, 120401 (2025)
work page 2025
-
[31]
R. Vasseur,Les Houches lectures on random quantum circuits and monitored quantum dynamics, arXiv:2602.17258
-
[32]
B. Skinner,Lecture notes: Introduction to random unitary circuits and the measurement-induced entanglement phase transition, arXiv:2307.02986
work page internal anchor Pith review Pith/arXiv arXiv
-
[33]
Y. Li, X. Chen, and M. P. A. Fisher,Measurement-driven entanglement transition in hybrid quantum circuits, Phys. Rev. B 100, 134306 (2019). 30
work page 2019
-
[34]
M. Szyniszewski, A. Romito, and H. Schomerus,Entanglement transition from variable-strength weak measurements, Phys. Rev. B100, 064204 (2019)
work page 2019
-
[35]
M. J. Gullans, and D. A. Huse,Dynamical purification phase transitions induced by quantum measurements, Phys. Rev. X10, 041020 (2020)
work page 2020
- [36]
-
[37]
J. Iaconis, A. Lucas, and Xiao Chen,Measurement-induced phase transitions in quan- tum automaton circuits, Phys. Rev. B102, 224311 (2020)
work page 2020
-
[38]
X. Turkeshi, R. Fazio, and M. Dalmonte,Measurement-induced criticality in (2+1)- dimensional hybrid quantum circuits, Phys. Rev. B102, 014315 (2020)
work page 2020
-
[39]
M. Ippoliti, M. J. Gullans, S. Gopalakrishnan, D. A. Huse, and V. Khemani,Entan- glement Phase Transitions in Measurement-Only Dynamics, Phys. Rev. X11, 011030 (2021)
work page 2021
-
[40]
A. Lavasani, Y. Alavirad, and M. Barkeshli,Measurement-induced topological entan- glement transitions in symmetric random quantum circuits, Nat. Phys.17, 342 (2021)
work page 2021
- [41]
-
[42]
A. Lavasani, Y. Alavirad, and M. Barkeshli,Topological Order and Criticality in (2+1)D Monitored Random Quantum Circuits, Phys. Rev. Lett.127, 235701 (2021)
work page 2021
- [43]
- [44]
-
[45]
C.-M. Jian, H. Shapourian, B. Bauer, and A. W. W. Ludwig,Measurement-induced entanglement transitions in quantum circuits of non-interacting fermions: Born-rule versus forced measurements, arXiv:2302.09094
work page internal anchor Pith review Pith/arXiv arXiv
-
[46]
H. Ha, A. Pandey, S. Gopalakrishnan, and D. A. Huse,Measurement-induced phase transitions in systems with diffusive dynamics, Phys. Rev. B110, L140301 (2024)
work page 2024
-
[47]
X. Feng, N. Fishchenko, S. Gopalakrishnan, and M. Ippoliti,Charge and Spin Sharp- ening Transitions on Dynamical Quantum Trees, Quantum9, 1692 (2025)
work page 2025
-
[48]
A. De Luca, C. Liu, A. Nahum, and T. Zhou,Universality classes for purification in nonunitary quantum processes, Phys. Rev. X15, 041024 (2025)
work page 2025
- [49]
-
[50]
C.-M. Jian, Y.-Z. You, R. Vasseur, and A. W. W. Ludwig,Measurement-induced criticality in random quantum circuits, Phys. Rev. B101, 104302 (2020). 31
work page 2020
-
[51]
Y. Bao, S. Choi, and E. Altman,Theory of the phase transition in random unitary circuits with measurements, Phys. Rev. B101, 104301 (2020)
work page 2020
-
[52]
Y. Li, R. Vasseur, M. P. A. Fisher, and A. W. W. Ludwig,Statistical mechanics model for Clifford random tensor networks and monitored quantum circuits, Phys. Rev. B 109, 174307 (2024)
work page 2024
-
[53]
Y. Bao, S. Choi, and E. Altman,Symmetry enriched phases of quantum circuits, Ann. Phys.435, 168618 (2021)
work page 2021
- [54]
- [55]
- [56]
-
[57]
Z. Li, and Z.-X. Luo,Exact, average, and broken symmetries in a simple adaptive monitored circuit, Quantum9, 1771 (2025)
work page 2025
-
[58]
U. Agrawal, A. Zabalo, K. Chen, J. H. Wilson, A. C. Potter, J. H. Pixley, S. Gopalakr- ishnan, and R. Vasseur,Entanglement and charge-sharpening transitions in U(1) sym- metric monitored quantum circuits, Phys. Rev. X12, 041002 (2022)
work page 2022
-
[59]
F. Barratt, U. Agrawal, S. Gopalakrishnan, D. A. Huse, R. Vasseur, and A. C. Potter, Field Theory of Charge Sharpening in Symmetric Monitored Quantum Circuits, Phys. Rev. Lett.129, 120604 (2022)
work page 2022
-
[60]
F. Barratt, U. Agrawal, A. C. Potter, S. Gopalakrishnan, and R. Vasseur,Transitions in the Learnability of Global Charges from Local Measurements, Phys. Rev. Lett.129, 200602 (2022)
work page 2022
-
[61]
H. Oshima and Y. Fuji,Charge fluctuation and charge-resolved entanglement in a monitored quantum circuit withU(1)symmetryPhys. Rev. B107, 014308 (2023)
work page 2023
-
[62]
A. Chakraborty, K. Chen, A. Zabalo, J. H. Wilson, and J. H. Pixley,Charge and Entanglement Criticality in a U(1)-Symmetric Hybrid Circuit of Qubits, Phys. Rev. B110, 045135 (2024)
work page 2024
-
[63]
M. Ippoliti and V. Khemani,Learnability Transitions in Monitored Quantum Dynam- ics via Eavesdropper’s Classical Shadows, PRX Quantum5, 020304 (2024)
work page 2024
-
[64]
H. Guo, M. S. Foster, C.-M. Jian, and A. W. W. Ludwig,Field theory of monitored, interacting fermion dynamics with charge conservation, Phys. Rev. B112, 064304, (2025)
work page 2025
-
[65]
Bayesian critical points in classical lattice models
A. Nahum, and J. L. Jacobsen,Bayesian critical points in classical lattice models, arXiv:2504.01264
work page internal anchor Pith review Pith/arXiv arXiv
-
[66]
S. Gopalakrishnan, E. McCulloch, and R. Vasseur,Monitored Fluctuating Hydrody- namics, Phys. Rev. X16, 011024 (2026). 32
work page 2026
-
[67]
Z. Weinstein, Y. Bao, and E. Altman,Measurement-induced power-law negativity in an open monitored quantum circuitPhys. Rev. Lett.129, 080501 (2022)
work page 2022
-
[68]
B. C. Dias, D. Perković, M. Haque, P. Ribeiro, and P. A. McClarty,Quantum noise as a symmetry-breaking field, Phys. Rev. B108, L060302 (2023)
work page 2023
-
[69]
S.Liu, M.-R.Li, S.-X.Zhang, andS.-K.Jian,Entanglement Structure and Information Protection in Noisy Hybrid Quantum Circuits, Phys. Rev. Lett.132, 240402 (2024)
work page 2024
- [70]
-
[71]
M. N. Ivaki, T. Ojanen, and A. G. Moghaddam,Noise resilience in adaptive and symmetric monitored quantum circuits, Npj Quantum Inf.11, 111 (2025)
work page 2025
-
[72]
V. Khemani, A. Vishwanath, and D. A. Huse,Operator Spreading and the Emergence of Dissipative Hydrodynamics under Unitary Evolution with Conservation Laws, Phys. Rev. X8, 031057 (2018)
work page 2018
- [73]
-
[74]
T. Zhou and A. Nahum,Emergent Statistical Mechanics of Entanglement in Random Unitary Circuits, Phys. Rev. B99, 174205 (2019)
work page 2019
-
[75]
C. von Keyserlingk, T. Rakovszky, F. Pollmann, and S. Sondhi,Operator Hydrody- namics, OTOCs, and Entanglement Growth in Systems without Conservation Laws, Phys. Rev. X8, 021013 (2018)
work page 2018
-
[76]
T. Rakovszky, F. Pollmann, C. von Keyserlingk,Diffusive hydrodynamics of out-of- time-ordered correlators with charge conservation, Phys. Rev. X8, 031058 (2018)
work page 2018
-
[77]
E. McCulloch, J. De Nardis, S. Gopalakrishnan, and R. Vasseur,Full Counting Statis- tics of Charge in Chaotic Many-body Quantum Systems, Phys. Rev. Lett.131, 210402 (2023)
work page 2023
-
[78]
P. Zanardi, C. Zalka, and L. Faoro,Entangling power of quantum evolutionsPhys. Rev. A62, 030301 (2000)
work page 2000
-
[79]
P. Calabrese and J. Cardy,Entanglement entropy and quantum field theory, J. Stat. Mech. (2004) P06002
work page 2004
-
[80]
A. Jamiolkowski,Linear transformations which preserve trace and positive semidefi- niteness of operators, Rep. Math. Phys.3, 275 (1972)
work page 1972
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.