Thermal states of random quantum many-body systems

Abstract

We study a distribution of thermal states given by random Hamiltonians with a local structure. We show that the ensemble of thermal states monotonically approaches the unitarily invariant ensemble with decreasing temperature if all particles interact according to a single random interaction and achieves a state t-design at temperature O(1/log(t)). For the system where the random interactions are local, we show that the ensemble achieves a state 1-design. We then provide numerical evidence indicating that the ensemble undergoes a phase transition at finite temperature.