Effectiveness of classical spin simulations for describing NMR relaxation of quantum spins

We investigate the limits of effectiveness of classical spin simulations for predicting free induction decays (FIDs) measured by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) on systems of quantum nuclear spins. The specific limits considered are associated with the range of interaction, the size of individual quantum spins and the long-time behavior of the FID signals. We compare FIDs measured or computed for lattices of quantum spins (mainly spins 1/2) with the FIDs computed for the corresponding lattices of classical spins. Several cases of excellent quantitative agreement between quantum and classical FIDs are reported along with the cases of gradually decreasing quality of the agreement. We formulate semi-empirical criteria defining the situations, when classical simulations are expected to accurately reproduce quantum FIDs. Our findings indicate that classical simulations may be a quantitatively accurate tool of first principles calculations for a broad class of macroscopic systems, where individual quantum microscopic degrees of freedom are far from the classical limit.

Absence of exponential sensitivity to small perturbations in nonintegrable systems of spins 1/2

We show that macroscopic nonintegrable lattices of spins 1/2, which are often considered to be chaotic, do not exhibit the basic property of classical chaotic systems, namely, exponential sensitivity to small perturbations. We compare chaotic lattices of classical spins and nonintegrable lattices of spins 1/2 in terms of their magnetization responses to imperfect reversal of spin dynamics known as Loschmidt echo. In the classical case, magnetization exhibits exponential sensitivity to small perturbations of Loschmidt echoes, which is characterized by twice the value of the largest Lyapunov exponent of the system. In the case of spins 1/2, magnetization is only power-law sensitive to small perturbations. Our findings imply that it is impossible to define Lyapunov exponents for lattices of spins 1/2 even in the macroscopic limit. At the same time, the above absence of exponential sensitivity to small perturbations is an encouraging news for the efforts to create quantum simulators. The power-law sensitivity of spin 1/2 lattices to small perturbations is predicted to be measurable in nuclear magnetic resonance experiments.