Interacting Quantum Symmetric Exclusion Process

Abstract

We introduce and solve the Interacting Quantum Symmetric Exclusion Process (IQSEP), a family of models describing the stochastic quantum hopping of charged particles along the edges of a lattice, with hopping amplitudes that depend on the occupations of neighbouring sites. In the absence of interactions, they reduce to the standard quantum simple symmetric exclusion process, exhibiting coherent diffusive transport. For interactions of order one, they capture incoherent diffusive transport and its fluctuations, characterized by density-dependent diffusivity and mobility, making contact with the macroscopic fluctuation theory. By rescaling the interaction strength appropriately with the lattice mesh, we define a mesoscopic scaling regime that retains a finite coherence length in the continuous thermodynamic limit. This regime interpolates between coherent behavior at small length scales and incoherent behavior at large scales. The resulting scaling theory accounts for fluctuations of quantum coherences in interacting diffusive systems, going beyond the scope of standard fluctuating hydrodynamics.