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Logarithmic entanglement growth from disorder-free localization in the two-leg compass ladder

We explore the finite-temperature dynamics of the quasi-1D orbital compass and plaquette Ising models. We map these systems onto a model of free fermions coupled to strictly localized spin-1/2 degrees of freedom. At finite temperature, the localized degrees of freedom act as emergent disorder and localize the fermions. Although the model can be analyzed using free-fermion techniques, it has dynamical signatures in common with typical many-body localized systems: Starting from generic initial states, entanglement grows logarithmically; in addition, equilibrium dynamical correlation functions decay with an exponent that varies continuously with temperature and model parameters. These quasi-1D models offer an experimentally realizable setting in which natural dynamical probes show signatures of disorder-free many-body localization.