Limits to velocity of signal propagation in many-body systems: a quantum-information perspective

Abstract

The Lieb-Robinson bound (LRB) states that the range and strength of interactions between the constituents of a complex many-body system impose upper limits to how fast the signal can propagate. It manifests in a light cone-like growth of correlation function connecting two distant subsystems. Here we employ the techniques of quantum information to demonstrate that the LRB can be determined from local measurements performed on a single qubit that is connected to a many-body system. This formulation provides an operational recipe for estimating the LRB in complex systems, replacing the measurement of the correlation function with simple single-particle manipulations. We demonstrate the potency of this approach by deriving the upper limit to the speed of signal propagation in the XY spin chain.