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arXiv:1111.6119 · Physical Review B

Quench dynamics in randomly generated extended quantum models

Giuseppe Piero Brandino, Andrea De Luca, Robert Konik, Giuseppe Mussardo

Published Jun 27, 2012• 93 citations
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Abstract

We analyze the thermalization properties and the validity of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in a generic class of quantum Hamiltonians where the quench parameter explicitly breaks a ${Z}_{2}$ symmetry. Natural realizations of such systems are given by random matrices expressed in a block form where the terms responsible for the quench dynamics are the off-diagonal blocks. Our analysis examines both dense and sparse random matrix realizations of the Hamiltonians and the observables. Sparse random matrices may be associated with local quantum Hamiltonians and they show a different spread of the observables on the energy eigenstates with respect to the dense ones. In particular, the numerical data seem to support the existence of rare states, i.e., states where the observables take expectation values that are different compared to the typical ones sampled by the microcanonical distribution. In the case of sparse random matrices, we also extract the finite-size behavior of two different time scales associated with the thermalization process.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.85.214435

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We analyze the thermalization properties and the validity of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in a generic class of quantum Hamiltonians where the quench parameter explicitly breaks a Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ symmetry. Natural realizations of such systems are given by random matrices expressed in a block form where the terms responsible for the quench dynamics are the off-diagonal blocks. Our analysis examines both dense and sparse random matrix realizations of the Hamiltonians and the observables. Sparse random matrices may be associated with local quantum Hamiltonians and they show a different spread of the observables on the energy eigenstates with respect to the dense ones. In particular, the numerical data seem to support the existence of rare states, i.e., states where the observables take expectation values that are different compared to the typical ones sampled by the microcanonical distribution. In the case of sparse random matrices, we also extract the finite-size behavior of two different time scales associated with the thermalization process.
We consider the question of thermalization for isolated quantum systems after a sudden parameter change, a so-called quantum quench. In particular, we investigate the prerequisites for thermalization, focusing on the statistical properties of the time-averaged density matrix and of the expectation values of observables in the final eigenstates. We find that eigenstates, which are rare compared to the typical ones sampled by the microcanonical distribution, are responsible for the absence of thermalization of some infinite integrable models and play an important role for some nonintegrable systems of finite size, such as the Bose-Hubbard model. We stress the importance of finite size effects for the thermalization of isolated quantum systems and discuss two scenarios for thermalization.
Z 2 symmetry is ubiquitous in quantum mechanics, where it drives various phase transitions and emergent physics. The role of Z 2 symmetry in the thermalization of a local observable in a disordered system can be understood using random matrix theory. To do so, we consider random symmetric centrosymmetric (SC) matrix as a toy model where a Z 2 symmetry, namely, the exchange symmetry, is conserved. Such a conservation law splits the Hilbert space into decoupled subspaces such that the energy spectrum of an SC matrix is a superposition of two pure spectra. After discussing the known results on the correlations of such mixed spectra, we consider different initial states and analytically compute the time evolution of their survival probability and associated timescales. We show that there exist certain low-energy initial states which do not decay over a very long timescales such that a measure zero fraction of random SC matrices exhibit spontaneous symmetry breaking. Later, we look at the equilibrium values of local observables like the density-density correlation, kinetic energy operator, and compare them against the average values from the microcanonical and canonical ensembles. We find that when the observable violates (respects) the global symmetry of the Hamiltonian, the equilibrium value is independent (dependent) of the symmetry of the initial state. However, irrespective of such symmetry constraints, the fluctuations of the diagonal terms of the observables within microcanonical shells decay with system size such that the ansatz of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis remains valid. We show that the equilibrium value converges to the canonical average for all the observables and initial states, indicating that thermalization occurs despite the presence of a global symmetry.
Abstract We numerically investigate statistical ensembles for the occupations of eigenstates of an isolated quantum system emerging as a result of quantum quenches. The systems investigated are sparse random matrix Hamiltonians and disordered lattices. In the former case, the quench consists of sudden switching‐on the off‐diagonal elements of the Hamiltonian. In the latter case, it is sudden switching‐on of the hopping between adjacent lattice sites. The quench‐induced ensembles are compared with the so‐called “quantum micro‐canonical” (QMC) ensemble describing quantum superpositions with fixed energy expectation values. Our main finding is that quantum quenches with sparse random matrices having one special diagonal element lead to the condensation phenomenon predicted for the QMC ensemble. Away from the QMC condensation regime, the overall agreement with the QMC predictions is only qualitative for both random matrices and disordered lattices but with some cases of a very good quantitative agreement. In the case of disordered lattices, the QMC ensemble can be used to estimate the probability of finding a particle in a localized or delocalized eigenstate.
We consider the question of thermalization for isolated quantum systems after a sudden parameter change, a so-called quantum quench. In particular we investigate the pre-requisites for thermalization focusing on the statistical properties of the time-averaged density matrix and of the expectation values of observables in the final eigenstates. We find that eigenstates, which are rare compared to the typical ones sampled by the micro-canonical distribution, are responsible for the absence of thermalization of some infinite integrable models and play an important role for some finite size non-integrable systems, such as the Bose-Hubbard model. We stress the importance of finite size effects for the thermalization of isolated quantum systems and propose a condition, relying on the Kullback-Leibler entropy, to obtain thermalization.
We derive the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) from a random matrix Hamiltonian by extending the model introduced by Deutsch (1991 Phys. Rev. A 43 2046). We approximate the coupling between a subsystem and a many-body environment by means of a random Gaussian matrix. We show that a common assumption in the analysis of quantum chaotic systems, namely the treatment of eigenstates as independent random vectors, leads to inconsistent results. However, a consistent approach to the ETH can be developed by introducing an interaction between random wave-functions that arises as a result of the orthonormality condition. This approach leads to a consistent form for off-diagonal matrix elements of observables. From there we obtain the scaling of time-averaged fluctuations of generic observables with system size for which we calculate an analytic form in terms of the inverse participation ratio. The analytic results are compared to exact diagonalizations of a quantum spin chain for different physical observables in multiple parameter regimes.
We derive the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) from a random matrix Hamiltonian by extending the model introduced by Deutsch (1991 Phys. Rev. A 43 2046). We approximate the coupling between a subsystem and a many-body environment by means of a random Gaussian matrix. We show that a common assumption in the analysis of quantum chaotic systems, namely the treatment of eigenstates as independent random vectors, leads to inconsistent results. However, a consistent approach to the ETH can be developed by introducing an interaction between random wave-functions that arises as a result of the orthonormality condition. This approach leads to a consistent form for off-diagonal matrix elements of observables. From there we obtain the scaling of time-averaged fluctuations of generic observables with system size for which we calculate an analytic form in terms of the inverse participation ratio. The analytic results are compared to exact diagonalizations of a quantum spin chain for different physical observables in multiple parameter regimes.