Many-body localization dynamics from gauge invariance

In this talk I will show how lattice gauge theories can display many-body localization dynamics in the absence of disorder as a consequence of local constraints induced by gauge invariance. The starting point is the observation that, for some generic homogeneous initial conditions, the time-evolved state can be decomposed into different superselection sectors as a consequence of Gauss law in such a way that it realizes an effective disorder average. By carrying out extensive exact simulations on the real-time dynamics of a lattice Schwinger model, describing the coupling between U(1) gauge fields and staggered fermions, it is shown that the dynamics can become nonergodic leading to a slow, double-logarithmic entanglement growth. These findings are immediately relevant to cold atoms and trapped ion experiments realizing dynamical gauge fields and suggest a new and universal link between confinement and entanglement dynamics in the many-body localized phase of lattice models.