Existence of quantum many-body scarring in non-Abelian lattice gauge theories

Determine whether quantum many-body scarring arises nontrivially in non-Abelian lattice gauge theories, beyond the cases already established in Abelian lattice gauge theories.

Background

Quantum many-body scarring (QMBS) has been widely observed and analyzed in Abelian lattice gauge theories (LGTs), where special nonthermal eigenstates yield long-lived coherent dynamics and fidelity revivals. Whether such scarred behavior extends to non-Abelian gauge groups has been unclear and has represented a central motivation for exploring models with richer gauge structure.

Prior studies mostly focused on Abelian models; the only recent non-Abelian work referenced concerned a pure SU(2) LGT without dynamical matter and identified limited scar candidates under stringent truncations, without experimentally feasible initial states. This left open the broader question of whether QMBS appears nontrivially in non-Abelian LGTs, especially with dynamical matter fields.

The present work addresses this question by providing numerical evidence of QMBS in a 1+1D SU(2) LGT with dynamical matter, using simple product-state quenches and analyzing revivals, local observables, and entanglement, and further presenting preliminary indications in 2+1D. The open question formulated in the abstract frames the paper and motivates the investigation.