Measurement-induced phase transitions in disordered fermions
Abstract
Measurement-induced phase transitions are nonequilibrium transitions between phases characterized by distinct entanglement scaling behaviors, driven by the competition between unitary dynamics and measurements. Despite recent numerical efforts, how quenched disorder affects these transitions remains unclear. In this work, we study a d-dimensional noninteracting fermionic system subject to both quenched disorder and continuous monitoring of the local particle density, and derive an effective field theory describing its long-time universal behaviors. We find that the system is governed by the same nonlinear sigma model as in the case of clean monitored fermions, with disorder entering only through a modification of model parameters. This result suggests that the presence or absence of a measurement-induced phase transition is unaffected by the introduction of disorder. In spatial dimension d=1, the system exhibits only an area law phase and no transition, whereas in d>1, a transition persists between an area×log law phase and an area law phase, with the critical measurement rate suppressed by disorder. Numerical simulation confirms the absence of MIPT in d=1, and the linear shift of the critical measurement rate by disorder scattering rate in higher dimensions predicted by analytical theory.
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BibTeX
@misc{liao2026measurementinduced,
title = {{Measurement-induced phase transitions in disordered fermions}},
author = {Yunxiang Liao and Max Matheussen and Xinghai Zhang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.05306},
eprint = {2605.05306},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05306},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Measurement-induced phase transitions in disordered fermions
AU - Yunxiang Liao
AU - Max Matheussen
AU - Xinghai Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.05306
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05306
AB - Measurement-induced phase transitions are nonequilibrium transitions between phases characterized by distinct entanglement scaling behaviors, driven by the competition between unitary dynamics and measurements. Despite recent numerical efforts, how quenched disorder affects these transitions remains unclear. In this work, we study a d-dimensional noninteracting fermionic system subject to both quenched disorder and continuous monitoring of the local particle density, and derive an effective field theory describing its long-time universal behaviors. We find that the system is governed by the same nonlinear sigma model as in the case of clean monitored fermions, with disorder entering only through a modification of model parameters. This result suggests that the presence or absence of a measurement-induced phase transition is unaffected by the introduction of disorder. In spatial dimension d=1, the system exhibits only an area law phase and no transition, whereas in d>1, a transition persists between an area×log law phase and an area law phase, with the critical measurement rate suppressed by disorder. Numerical simulation confirms the absence of MIPT in d=1, and the linear shift of the critical measurement rate by disorder scattering rate in higher dimensions predicted by analytical theory.
ER -