We study the energy current and its fluctuations in quantum gapless 1d systems far from equilibrium modeled by conformal field theory, where two separated halves are prepared at distinct temperatures and glued together at a point contact. We prove that these systems converge towards steady states, and give a general description of such non-equilibrium steady states in terms of quantum field theory data. We compute the large deviation function, also called the full counting statistics, of energy transfer through the contact. These are universal and satisfy fluctuation relations. We provide a simple representation of these quantum fluctuations in terms of classical Poisson processes whose intensities are proportional to Boltzmann weights.
We study the energy current and its fluctuations in quantum gapless 1d systems far from equilibrium modeled by conformal field theory, where two separated halves are prepared at distinct temperatures and glued together at a point contact. We prove that these systems converge towards steady states, and give a general description of such non-equilibrium steady states in terms of quantum field theory data. We compute the large deviation function, also called the full counting statistics, of energy transfer through the contact. These are universal and satisfy fluctuation relations. We provide a simple representation of these quantum fluctuations in terms of classical Poisson processes whose intensities are proportional to Boltzmann weights.
We evaluate the exact energy current and scaled cumulant generating function (related to the large-deviation function) in non-equilibrium steady states with energy flow, in any integrable model of relativistic quantum field theory (IQFT) with diagonal scattering. Our derivations are based on various recent results of D. Bernard and B. Doyon. The steady states are built by connecting homogeneously two infinite halves of the system thermalized at different temperatures Tl, Tr, and waiting for a long time. We evaluate the current J(Tl,Tr) using the exact QFT density matrix describing these non-equilibrium steady states and using Al.B. Zamolodchikov's method of the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA). The scaled cumulant generating function is obtained from the extended fluctuation relations which hold in integrable models. We verify our formula in particular by showing that the conformal field theory (CFT) result is obtained in the high-temperature limit. We analyze numerically our non-equilibrium steady-state TBA equations for three models: the sinh-Gordon model, the roaming trajectories model, and the sine-Gordon model at a particular reflectionless point. Based on the numerics, we conjecture that an infinite family of non-equilibrium c-functions, associated to the scaled cumulants, can be defined, which we interpret physically. We study the full scaled distribution function and find that it can be described by a set of independent Poisson processes. Finally, we show that the "additivity" property of the current, which is known to hold in CFT and was proposed to hold more generally, does not hold in general IQFT, that is J(Tl,Tr) is not of the form f(Tl)−f(Tr).
We consider non-equilibrium quantum steady states in conformal field theory (CFT) on star-graph configurations, with a particular, simple connection condition at the vertex of the graph. These steady states occur after a large time as a result of initially thermalizing the legs of the graph at different temperatures, and carry energy flows. Using purely Virasoro algebraic calculations we evaluate the exact scaled cumulant generating function for these flows. We show that this function satisfies a generalization of the usual non-equilibrium fluctuation relations. This extends results by two of the authors to the case of more than two legs. It also provides an alternative derivation centered on Virasoro algebra operators rather than local fields, hence an alternative regularization scheme, thus confirming the validity and universality of the scaled cumulant generating function. Our derivation shows how the usual Virasoro algebra leads, in large volumes, to a continuous-index Virasoro algebra for which we develop diagrammatic principles, which may be of interest in other non-equilibrium contexts as well. Finally, our results shed light on the Poisson-process interpretation of the long-time energy transfer in CFT.
We evaluate the exact energy current and scaled cumulant generating function (related to the large-deviation function) in non-equilibrium steady states with energy flow, in any integrable model of relativistic quantum field theory (IQFT) with diagonal scattering. Our derivations are based on various recent results of D. Bernard and B. Doyon. The steady states are built by connecting homogeneously two infinite halves of the system thermalized at different temperatures Tl, Tr, and waiting for a long time. We evaluate the current J(Tl, Tr) using the exact QFT density matrix describing these non-equilibrium steady states and using Al.B. Zamolodchikov’s method of the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA). The scaled cumulant generating function is obtained from the extended fluctuation relations which hold in integrable models. We verify our formula in particular by showing that the conformal field theory (CFT) result is obtained in the high-temperature limit. We analyze numerically our non-equilibrium steady-state TBA equations for three models: the sinh-Gordon model, the roaming trajectories model, and the sine-Gordon model at a particular reflectionless point. Based on the numerics, we conjecture that an infinite family of non-equilibrium c-functions, associated to the scaled cumulants, can be defined, which we interpret physically. We study the full scaled distribution function and find that it can be described by a set of independent Poisson processes. Finally, we show that the “additivity ” property of the current, which is known to hold in CFT and was proposed to hold more generally, does not hold in general IQFT, that is J(Tl, Tr) is not of the form f(Tl)−f(Tr).
Abstract We provide a pedagogical review of the main ideas and results in non-equilibrium conformal field theory and connected subjects. These concern the understanding of quantum transport and its statistics at and near critical points. Starting with phenomenological considerations, we explain the general framework, illustrated by the example of the Heisenberg quantum chain. We then introduce the main concepts underlying conformal field theory (CFT), the emergence of critical ballistic transport, and the CFT scattering construction of non-equilibrium steady states. Using this we review the theory for energy transport in homogeneous one-dimensional critical systems, including the complete description of its large deviations and the resulting (extended) fluctuation relations. We generalize some of these ideas to one-dimensional critical charge transport and to the presence of defects, as well as beyond one-dimensional criticality. We describe non-equilibrium transport in free-particle models, where connections are made with generalized Gibbs ensembles, and in higher-dimensional and non-integrable quantum field theories, where the use of the powerful hydrodynamic ideas for non-equilibrium steady states is explained. We finish with a list of open questions. The review does not assume any advanced prior knowledge of conformal field theory, large-deviation theory or hydrodynamics.
In this communication, we present a simple derivation, from time-reversal symmetry, of fluctuation relations for steady-state large deviation functions in non-equilibrium quantum systems. We further show that a condition of pure transmission implies extended fluctuation relations, connecting large deviation functions to mean currents at shifted temperatures and chemical potentials. We illustrate these concepts in various examples, including the interacting resonant level model and conformal or integrable models.
In these notes I explain how to describe one-dimensional quantum systems that are simultaneously near to, but not exactly at, a critical point, and in a far-from-equilibrium steady state. This description uses a density matrix on scattering states (of the type of Hershfield's density matrix), or equivalently a Gibbs-like ensemble of scattering states. The steady state I am considering is one where there is a steady flow of energy along the chain, coming from the steady draining / filling of two far-away reservoirs put at different temperatures. The context I am using is that of massive relativistic quantum field theory, which is the framework for describing the region near quantum critical points in any universality class with translation invariance and with dynamical exponent z equal to 1. I show, in this completely general setup, that a particular steady-state density matrix occurs naturally from the physically motivated Keldysh formulation of the steady state. In this formulation the steady state occurs as a result of a large-time evolution from an initial state where two halves of the system are separately thermalized. I also show how this suggests a particular dependence (a "factorization") of the average current on the left and right temperatures. The idea of this density matrix was proposed already in a recent publication with my collaborator Denis Bernard, where we studied it in the context of conformal field theory.