Quantum complexity and topological phases of matter

Abstract

In this work, we find that the complexity of quantum many-body states, defined as a spread in the Krylov basis, may serve as a new probe that distinguishes topological phases of matter. We illustrate this analytically in one of the representative examples, the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, finding that spread complexity becomes constant in the topological phase. Moreover, in the same setup, we analyze exactly solvable quench protocols where the evolution of the spread complexity shows distinct dynamical features depending on the topological vs non-topological phase of the initial state as well as the quench Hamiltonian.