We establish a nonequilibrium scaling regime in the short-time evolution of one-dimensional interacting open quantum systems subject to a generic heating mechanism. This dynamical regime is characterized by uncompensated phonon production and a superdiffusive, universal scaling of quasiparticle lifetimes with momentum $\ensuremath{\sim}{q}^{\ensuremath{-}5/3}$, distinct from the finite- and zero-temperature cases. It is separated from a high-momentum regime by a time-dependent scale fading out as ${q}_{0}(t)\ensuremath{\sim}{t}^{\ensuremath{-}4/5}$. In the latter region we observe thermalization to an effective time-dependent equilibrium with linearly increasing temperature. By mapping out the dynamical phase diagram and computing the dynamical structure factor within an open-system Keldysh functional integral approach, we show how these predictions can be explored in cold-atom experiments by means of Bragg spectroscopy.
We establish a nonequilibrium scaling regime in the short-time evolution of one-dimensional interacting open quantum systems subject to a generic heating mechanism. This dynamical regime is characterized by uncompensated phonon production and a superdiffusive, universal scaling of quasiparticle lifetimes with momentum \ensuremath∼q\ensuremath−5/3, distinct from the finite- and zero-temperature cases. It is separated from a high-momentum regime by a time-dependent scale fading out as q0(t)\ensuremath∼t\ensuremath−4/5. In the latter region we observe thermalization to an effective time-dependent equilibrium with linearly increasing temperature. By mapping out the dynamical phase diagram and computing the dynamical structure factor within an open-system Keldysh functional integral approach, we show how these predictions can be explored in cold-atom experiments by means of Bragg spectroscopy.
We study the relaxation dynamics of interacting one-dimensional fermions with band curvature after a weak quench in the interaction parameter at zero temperature. Our model lies within the class of interacting Luttinger liquids, where the harmonic Luttinger theory is extended by a weak-integrability-breaking phonon scattering term. In order to solve for the nonequilibrium time evolution, we use quantum kinetic equations exploiting the resonant but subleading character of the phonon interaction term. The interplay between phonon scattering and the quadratic Luttinger theory leads to the emergence of three distinct spatiotemporal regimes for the fermionic real-space correlation function. It features the crossover from a prequench to a prethermal state, finally evolving towards a thermal state on increasing length and time scales. The characteristic algebraically decaying real-space correlations in the prethermalized regime become modulated by an amplitude that is decaying in time according to a stretched exponential as an effect of the interactions. The asymptotic thermalization dynamics is governed by energy transport over large distances from the thermalized to the nonthermalized regions via macroscopic, dynamical slow modes. This is revealed in an algebraic decay of the system's effective temperature. The numerical value of the associated exponent agrees with the dynamical critical exponent of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class. We also discuss a criterion for the applicability of this theory away from the integrable limit of noninteracting fermions.
We study the time evolution of a one-dimensional interacting fermion system described by the Luttinger model starting from a nonequilibrium state defined by a smooth temperature profile T(x). As a specific example we consider the case when T(x) is equal to TL(TR) far to the left (right). Using a series expansion in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=2({T}_{R}\ensuremath{-}{T}_{L})/({T}_{L}+{T}_{R})$, we compute the energy density, the heat current density, and the fermion two-point correlation function for all times $t\ensuremath{\ge}0$. For local (delta-function) interactions, the first two are computed to all orders, giving simple exact expressions involving the Schwarzian derivative of the integral of T(x). For nonlocal interactions, breaking scale invariance, we compute the nonequilibrium steady state (NESS) to all orders and the evolution to first order in $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$. The heat current in the NESS is universal even when conformal invariance is broken by the interactions, and its dependence on TL,R agrees with numerical results for the XXZ spin chain. Moreover, our analytical formulas predict peaks at short times in the transition region between different temperatures and show dispersion effects that, even if nonuniversal, are qualitatively similar to ones observed in numerical simulations for related models, such as spin chains and interacting lattice fermions.
In this Thesis we discussed several issues related to the dynamics of isolated quantum many-body systems. The brief overview of Chapter 1 highlighted a series of open fundamental theoretical questions which are crucial for the investigation of nonequilibrium phenomena. Among them, we mainly focused on the emergence of thermal behaviors and on the characterization of dynamical phase transitions and of the associated universal dynamics. To this end, we analyzed some paradigmatic models, such as the Fermi-Hubbard model, the quantum Ising chain, and the O(N) model. -Chapter 2: Absence of thermalization in a Fermi liquid. In this Chapter we report two results that question the common expectation of thermalization in a Landau-Fermi liquid after an interaction quench. We first consider the perturbative expansion in the interaction strength of the long-wavelength structure factor S(q) and show that it does not satisfy the hypothesis that steady-state averages correspond to thermal ones. In particular, S(q) has an analytical component ∼ const. + O(q^2) for q → 0, compatible with thermalization, but it retains also a nonanalytic term ∼ |q| characteristic of a Fermi liquid at zero-temperature. In real space, this nonanalyticity turns in a power-law decay of the density-density correlations, in contrast with the exponential decay associated to thermalization. We next analyze the low-density case, where one can obtain results valid at any order in interaction but at leading in the density, and find that in the steady state the momentum distribution jump at the Fermi surface is strictly finite, though smaller than at equilibrium. -Chapter 3: Nonadiabatic stationary behavior in a driven Ising chain. In this Chapter we discuss the emergence of a nonadiabatic behavior in the dynamics of the order parameter in a low-dimensional system subject to a linear ramp of one of its parameters within a gapped phase, which should be the most favorable situation for an adiabatic evolution. We study in details the dynamics of the spontaneous magnetization m_x(t) in a quantum Ising chain after a linear variation in time of the transverse field within the ordered phase. In particular, focusing on the value of the order parameter at the end of the ramp m_x(τ), we show that the smaller the switching rate of the transverse field is the closer m_x(τ) gets to its ground state value. Nonetheless, this apparently small correction to adiabaticity eventually leads to the disruption of the order exponentially fast in the subsequent time evolution, no matter how slowly the ramp is performed. -Chapter 4: Aging and coarsening in isolated quantum systems after a quench. This Chapter analyzes the nonequilibrium dynamics of an isolated quantum system after a sudden quench to the dynamical critical point, where the emergence of scaling and universal exponents is expected, due to the absence of time and length scales. We explore these features for a bosonic interacting scalar field theory with O(N) symmetry in the large-N limit, where the model is exactly solvable and the exponents and scaling forms of the relevant two-time correlation functions can be analytically calculated. Moreover, we provide evidence of the emergence of a dynamical scaling behavior also for quenches below the dynamical critical point, associated with coarsening. We find that the latter case is characterized by the same scaling functions as those describing the critical case, yet with different exponents. -Chapter 5: Dynamical transitions and statistics of excitations. In this Chapter we study the dynamics of the O(N) model (introduced in the previous Chapter) resulting from a different protocol: a linear ramp of one of its parameters. We find that the presence of a dynamical phase transition, as well as its critical properties, are robust against the change of the protocol. We show that a characterization based on the critical dimensions and exponents would suggest that the dynamical phase transition is analogous to the equilibrium thermal one. However, its nonequilibrium nature becomes evident analyzing the statistics of excitations produced in the ramp process. In particular, the critical properties are encoded in the fluctuations in the number of excitations, which display qualitatively different behaviors depending on the ramp being performed above, at, or below the dynamical critical point. These behaviors bear no dependence on the duration of the protocol.
The equilibrium physics of quantum impurities frequently involves a universal crossover from weak to strong reservoir-impurity coupling, characterized by single-parameter scaling and an energy scale TK (Kondo temperature) that breaks scale invariance. For the noninteracting resonant level model, the nonequilibrium time evolution of the Loschmidt echo after a local quantum quench was recently computed explicitly [R. Vasseur, K. Trinh, S. Haas, and H. Saleur, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 240601 (2013)]. It shows single-parameter scaling with variable TKt. Here, we scrutinize whether similar universal dynamics can be observed in various interacting quantum impurity systems. Using density matrix and functional renormalization group approaches, we analyze the time evolution resulting from abruptly coupling two noninteracting Fermi or interacting Luttinger liquid leads via a quantum dot or a direct link. We also consider the case of a single Luttinger liquid lead suddenly coupled to a quantum dot. We investigate whether the field-theory predictions for the universal scaling as well as for the large-time behavior successfully describe the time evolution of the Loschmidt echo and the entanglement entropy of microscopic models. Our study shows that for the considered local quench protocols the above quantum impurity models fall into a class of problems for which the nonequilibrium dynamics can largely be understood based on the knowledge of the corresponding equilibrium physics.
In this work we examine the dynamics of one-dimensional systems. We present a continuum approach to the construction of the non-equilibrium Keldysh functional integral and derive a relation between the classical and quantum fields of the Keldysh formalism and the occupation of a state. Using the Keldysh formalism, we give a self-contained presentation of bosonization and refermionisation of fermionic and bosonic interacting particles. We derive the first two non-linear corrections to linear bosonization due to the fermionic spectrum curvature using the functional integral formalism. Using the previous results, we study the thermal dynamics of one-dimensional systems. We consider both the phonons, coming from bosonization, and fermionic quasiparticles, coming from refermionisation, in a single theory. Having them in a single theory is justified by a scale separation between them. Studying the dynamical structure factor we find three regimes. From higher to lower energies we have a ballistic and a collisional regimes of fermionic quasiparticles and a hydrodynamical regime of non-linear phonons. The phase field of the non-linear bosons satisfies the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, thereby linking the dynamics of one-dimensional quantum systems to the universality class of surface growth. The time-scale separating the phononic and fermionic quasiparticle regimes is very long for up-to-date experiments, meaning that the ballistic regime of fermionic quasiparticles is the only one likely to be observed. Since this approach has a limited range of validity for weakly interacting bosons, we derive their dynamical structure factor using a semiclassical approach.
We study the relaxation dynamics of the one-dimensional Tomonaga–Luttinger model after an interaction quench, paying particular attention to the momentum dependence of the two-particle interaction. Several potentials of different analytical forms are investigated that all lead to universal Luttinger liquid (LL) physics in equilibrium. The steady-state fermionic momentum distribution shows universal behavior in the sense of the LL phenomenology. For generic regular potentials, the large time decay of the momentum distribution function toward the steady-state value is characterized by a power law with a universal exponent that depends only on the potential at zero momentum transfer. The commonly employed ad hoc procedure fails to give this exponent. In addition to quenches from zero to positive interactions, we also consider the abrupt changes in the interaction between two arbitrary values. Additionally, we discuss the appearance of a factor of two between the steady-state momentum distribution function and that obtained in equilibrium at equal two-particle interaction.