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arXiv:1310.3670 · Physical Review Letters

Exact Large-Deviation Statistics for a Nonequilibrium Quantum Spin Chain

Marko Žnidarič

Published Jan 28, 2014• 67 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider a one-dimensional XX spin chain in a nonequilibrium setting with a Lindblad-type boundary driving. By calculating large-deviation rate function in the thermodynamic limit, a generalization of free energy to a nonequilibrium setting, we obtain a complete distribution of current, including closed expressions for lower-order cumulants. We also identify two phase-transition-like behaviors in either the thermodynamic limit, at which the current probability distribution becomes discontinuous, or at maximal driving, when the range of possible current values changes discontinuously. In the thermodynamic limit the current has a finite upper and lower bound. We also explicitly confirm nonequilibrium fluctuation relation and show that the current distribution is the same under mapping of the coupling strength Γ→1/Γ.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.112.040602

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We consider a one-dimensional XX spin chain in a nonequilibrium setting with a Lindblad-type boundary driving. By calculating large-deviation rate function in the thermodynamic limit, a generalization of free energy to a nonequilibrium setting, we obtain a complete distribution of current, including closed expressions for lower-order cumulants. We also identify two phase-transition-like behaviors in either the thermodynamic limit, at which the current probability distribution becomes discontinuous, or at maximal driving, when the range of possible current values changes discontinuously. In the thermodynamic limit the current has a finite upper and lower bound. We also explicitly confirm nonequilibrium fluctuation relation and show that the current distribution is the same under mapping of the coupling strength Γ→1/Γ.
Using the large-deviation formalism, we study the statistics of current fluctuations in a diffusive nonequilibrium quantum spin chain. The boundary-driven XX chain with dephasing consists of a coherent bulk hopping and a local dissipative dephasing. We analytically calculate the exact expression for the second current moment in a system of any length and then numerically demonstrate that in the thermodynamic limit, higher-order cumulants and the large-deviation function can be calculated using the additivity principle or macroscopic hydrodynamic theory. This shows that the additivity principle can also hold in systems that are not purely stochastic, and can in particular be valid in quantum systems. We also show that in large systems, the current fluctuations are the same as in the classical symmetric simple exclusion process.
We calculate a nonequilibrium steady state of a quantum XX chain in the presence of dephasing and driving due to baths at chain ends. The obtained state is exact in the limit of weak driving while the expressions for one- and two-point correlations are exact for an arbitrary driving strength. In the steady state the magnetization profile and the spin current display diffusive behavior. The spin–spin correlation function, on the other hand, has long-range correlations which, though, decay to zero in either the thermodynamical limit or for equilibrium driving. At zero dephasing a nonequilibrium phase transition occurs from a ballistic transport having short-range correlations to a diffusive transport with long-range correlations.
Current-carrying steady states of interacting spin chains exhibit rich structures generated through an interplay of constraints from the Hamiltonian dynamics and those induced by the current. The XXZ spin chain when coupled to maximally polarizing Lindblad terms (with opposite signs on either end) admits an exact solution for the steady state in a matrix product state (MPS) form. We use this exact solution to study the correlations and distributions of local spin observables in the nonequilibrium steady state. We present exact expressions for spin correlators, entropy per site, and scaled cumulant generating functions (SCGF) for distributions of local observables in the XX limit (Ising anisotropy Δ=0). Further, we use the exact MPS solution in the Δ>0 regime to calculate numerically exact entropy, correlations, as well as full distributions of spin observables in large systems. In systems where Δ is a cosine of rational multiple of π, we can numerically exactly estimate the large system limit of the SCGF and the large deviation/rate functions of local-z magnetization. For these, we show that the deviations of the SCGF, calculated in finite systems, from the asymptotic large system size limit decay exponentially with system size; however, the decay rate is a discontinuous function of Δ. The x magnetization density shows a double peak structure at Δ≲1, suggesting short-range ferromagnetic ordering in the x direction similar to what was reported for the ground state of the XXZ chain.
The statistics of the heat exchanged between two quantum XX spin chains prepared at different temperatures is studied within the assumption of weak coupling. This provides simple formulas for the average heat and its corresponding characteristic function, from which the probability distribution may be computed numerically. These formulas are valid for arbitrary sizes and therefore allow us to analyze the role of the thermodynamic limit in this nonequilibrium setting. It is found that all thermodynamic quantities are extremely sensitive to the quantum phase transition of the XX chain.
We study a one-dimensional XX chain under nonequilibrium driving and local dephasing described by the Lindblad master equation. The analytical solution for the nonequilibrium steady state found for particular parameters in a previous study [M. Žnidarič J. Stat. Mech. (2010) L05002] is extended to arbitrary coupling constants, driving, and a homogeneous magnetic field. All one-, two-, and three-point correlation functions are explicitly evaluated. It is shown that the nonequilibrium stationary state is not Gaussian. Nevertheless, in the thermodynamic and weak-driving limit it is only weakly correlated and can be described by a matrix product operator ansatz with matrices of fixed dimension 4. A nonequilibrium phase transition at zero dephasing is also discussed. It is suggested that the scaling of the relaxation time with the system size can serve as a signature of a nonequilibrium phase transition.