Tailoring transport in quantum spin chains via disorder and collisions

Abstract: We systematically investigate the interplay of disorder and space-time heterogeneous collisional noise in shaping the transport dynamics of an anisotropic XXZ spin chain. Using stochastic collision models to simulate interaction with the environment, we explore the localization-delocalization transitions across regimes with single and multiple excitations. We find that space homogeneous collisions occurring at low rates favor the shaping of regions where the localization degree sets in the form of subsequent plateaus at a rate and duration universally scaling with the collision rate. We also find that interactions among the excitations favor this process even for tiniest levels of disorder. Our findings can be applied to design stroboscopic protocols where sequences of transport and localization can be tailored. We establish relevant connections to noise-engineering of quantum devices in noisy intermediate-scale quantum simulators platforms, and to realistic biological systems where noise and disorder coexist.