Robustness of quantum many-body scars in the presence of Markovian bath (2501.00886v2)

Abstract: A generic closed quantum many-body system will inevitably tend to thermalization, whose local information encoded in the initial state eventually scrambles into the full space, known as quantum ergodicity. A paradigmatic exception in closed quantum systems for strong ergodicity breaking is known as many-body localization, where strong disorder-induced localization prevents the occurrence of thermalization. It is generally recognized that a localized quantum system would be delocalized under dissipation induced by the environment. However, this consequence recently has received challenges where an exotic dissipation-induced localization mechanism is proposed, and transitions between localized and extended phases are found. In this Letter, we promote this mechanism to systems for weak ergodicity breaking hosting quantum many-body scars (QMBS). We find that the system relaxes to a steady state dominated by QMBS, and the dissipative dynamics exhibit dynamic revivals by suitably preparing an initial state. We point out an experimental realization of the controlled dissipation with a cold atomic setup. This makes the signature of ergodicity breaking visible over dissipative dynamics and offers potential possibilities for experimentally preparing stable QMBS with associated coherent dynamics.