We study the non-equilibrium time evolution of an integrable field theory in 1+1 dimensions after sudden variation of a global parameter of the Hamiltonian. For a class of quenches defined in the text, we compute the long time limit of the one point function of a local operator as a series of form factors. Even if some subtleties force us to handle this result with care, there is strong evidence that for long times the expectation value of any local operator can be described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble with a different effective temperature for each eigenmode.
We consider expectation values of local operators in (continuum) integrable models in a situation when the mean value is calculated in a single Bethe state with a large number of particles. We develop a form factor expansion for the thermodynamic limit of the mean value, which applies whenever the distribution of Bethe roots is given by smooth density functions. We present three applications of our general result: (i) in the framework of integrable quantum field theory (IQFT) we present a derivation of the LeClair–Mussardo formula for finite temperature one-point functions. We also extend the results to boundary operators in boundary field theories. (ii) We establish the LeClair–Mussardo formula for the non-relativistic 1D Bose gas in the framework of the algebraic Bethe ansatz (ABA). This way we obtain an alternative derivation of the results of Kormos et al for the (temperature dependent) local correlations using only the concepts of the ABA. (iii) In IQFT we consider the long-time limit of one-point functions after a certain type of global quench. It is shown that our general results imply the integral series found by Fioretti and Mussardo. We also discuss the generalized eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in the context of quantum quenches in integrable models. It is shown that a single mean value always takes the form of a thermodynamic average in a generalized Gibbs ensemble, although the relation to the conserved charges is rather indirect.
We consider quantum quenches in integrable models. We argue that the behavior of local observables at late times after the quench is given by their expectation values with respect to a single representative Hamiltonian eigenstate. This can be viewed as a generalization of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis to quantum integrable models. We present a method for constructing this representative state by means of a generalized thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (GTBA). Going further, we introduce a framework for calculating the time dependence of local observables as they evolve towards their stationary values. As an explicit example we consider quantum quenches in the transverse-field Ising chain and show that previously derived results are recovered efficiently within our framework.
Abstract We study a quantum quench of an integrable quantum field theory in the planar infinite- N limit. Unlike isovector-valued O ( N ) models, matrix-valued field theories in the infinite- N limit are not solvable by the Hartre–Fock approximation, and are nontrivial interacting theories. We study quenches with initial states that are color-charge neutral, correspond to integrability-preserving boundary conditions, and that lead to nontrivial correlation functions of operators. We compute exactly at infinite N , the time-dependent one- and two-point correlation functions of the energy-momentum tensor and renormalized field operator after this quench using known exact form factors. This computation can be done fully analytically, due the simplicity of the initial state and the form factors in the planar limit. We also show that this type of quench preserves factorizability at all times, allows for particle transmission from the pre-quench state, while still having nontrivial interacting post-quench dynamics.
We study the expectation values of observables and correlation functions at long times after a global quantum quench. Our focus is on metallic (``gapless'') fermionic many-body models and small quenches. The system is prepared in an eigenstate of an initial Hamiltonian, and the time evolution is performed with a final Hamiltonian which differs from the initial one in the value of one global parameter. We first derive general relations between time-averaged expectation values of observables as well as correlation functions and those obtained in an eigenstate of the final Hamiltonian. Our results are valid to linear and quadratic order in the quench parameter
g and generalize prior insights in several essential ways. This allows us to develop a phenomenology for the thermalization of local quantities up to a given order in
g. Our phenomenology is put to a test in several case studies of one-dimensional models representative of four distinct classes of Hamiltonians: quadratic ones, effectively quadratic ones, those characterized by an extensive set of (quasi-) local integrals of motion, and those for which no such set is known (and believed to be nonexistent). We show that for each of these models, all observables and correlation functions thermalize to linear order in
g. The more local a given quantity, the longer the linear behavior prevails when increasing
g. Typical local correlation functions and observables for which the term
O(g) vanishes thermalize even to order
g2. Our results show that lowest-order thermalization of local observables is an ubiquitous phenomenon even in models with extensive sets of integrals of motion.