Stochastic Integral Representation for the Dynamics of Disordered Systems

Abstract

The dynamics of interacting quantum systems in the presence of disorder is studied and an exact representation for disorder-averaged quantities via Ito stochastic calculus is obtained. The stochastic integral representation affords many advantages, including amenability to analytic approximation, applicability to interacting systems, and compatibility with existing tensor network methods. The integral may be expanded to produce a series of approximations, the first of which already includes all diffusive corrections and, further, is manifestly completely positive. The addition of fluctuations leads to a convergent series of systematic corrections. As examples, expressions for the density of states, spectral form factor, and out-of-time-order correlators for the Anderson model are obtained.