Reviving the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis Theorem in Open Quantum Systems

Abstract

In closed systems, the celebrated Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) theorem states that a one-dimensional locally interacting half-integer spin chain with translation and spin rotation symmetry cannot have a non-degenerate gapped ground state. However, the applicability of this theorem is diminished when the system interacts with a bath and loses its energy conservation. In this letter, we propose that the LSM theorem can be revived in the entanglement Hamiltonian when the coupling to bath renders the system short-range correlated. Specifically, we argue that the entanglement spectrum cannot have a non-degenerate minimum, isolated by a gap from other states. We further support the results with numerical examples where a spin-$1/2$ system is coupled to another spin-$3/2$ chain serving as the bath. Compared with the original LSM theorem which primarily addresses UV--IR correspondence, our findings unveil that the UV data and topological constraints also have a pivotal role in shaping the entanglement in open quantum many-body systems.