Many-body spectral statistics of relativistic quantum billiard systems

In the field of quantum chaos, spectral statistics is one of the most extensively investigated characteristics. Despite a large body of existing literature, the effects of many-body interactions on the spectral statistics of relativistic quantum systems remain poorly understood. Treating electron-electron interactions through the oneorbital mean-field Hubbard model, we address this fundamental issue using graphene billiards with the geometric shape of a circular sector as prototypical systems. Our approach is to consider the two characteristically different cases where the statistics are Poisson and Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) so the corresponding classical dynamics are typically integrable and chaotic, respectively, and to systematically investigate how the statistics change as the Hubbard interaction strength increases from zero. We find that, for energies near the Dirac point, the Hubbard interactions have a significant effect on the spectral statistics. Regardless of the type of spectral statistics to begin with, increasing the Hubbard interaction strength up to a critical value causes the statistics to approach GOE, rendering more applicable the random matrix theory. As the interaction strength increases beyond the critical value, the statistics evolve toward Poisson, due to the emergence of an energy gap rendering the quasiparticles massive. We also find that the energy levels above and below the Dirac point can exhibit different statistics, and the many-body interactions have little effect on the statistics for levels far from the Dirac point. These results reveal the intriguing interplay between many-body interactions and the spectral statistics, which we develop a physical picture to understand.

Automated summary

In this article, the effects of many-body interactions on the spectral statistics of relativistic quantum systems are investigated. Graphene billiards with the geometric shape of a circular sector are used as prototypical systems. The statistics are considered as either Poisson or Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE), and the changes in statistics as the interaction strength increases are systematically studied. It is found that the Hubbard interactions have a significant effect on the spectral statistics for energies near the Dirac point.