Asymptotic localization in the Bose-Hubbard model

We consider the Bose-Hubbard model. Our focus is on many-body localization, which was described by many authors in such models, even in the absence of disorder. Since our work is rigorous, and since we believe that the localization in this type of models is not strictly valid in the infinite-time limit, we necessarily restrict our study to “asymptotic localization” also known as “quasi-localization:” We prove that transport and thermalization are small beyond perturbation theory in the limit of large particle density. Our theorem takes the form of a many-body Nekhoroshev estimate. An interesting and new aspect of this model is the following: The localization cannot be inferred from a lack of hybridization between zero-hopping eigenstates. Naively speaking, all these eigenstates appear resonant and one has to move to a dressed basis to see the absence of resonances that are responsible for (quasi-)localization.