Non-universal level statistics in a chaotic quantum spin chain

Abstract

We study the level statistics of an interacting multi-qubit system, namely the kicked Ising spin chain, in the regime of quantum chaos. Long range quasi-energy level statistics show effects analogous to the ones observed in semi-classical systems due to the presence of classical periodic orbits, while short range level statistics display perfect statistical agreement with random matrix theory. Even though our system possesses no classical limit, our result suggest existence of an important non-universal system specific behavior at short time scale, which clearly goes beyond finite size effects in random matrix theory.