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arXiv:1408.4186 · Physical Review A

Thermalization in closed quantum systems: Semiclassical approach

Jayson G. Cosme, Oleksandr Fialko

Published Nov 3, 2014• 17 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Thermalization in closed quantum systems can be understood either by means of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis or the concept of canonical typicality. Both concepts are based on quantum-mechanical formalism, such as spectral properties of the eigenstates or entanglement between subsystems, respectively. Here we study instead the onset of thermalization of Bose particles in a two-band double-well potential using the truncated Wigner approximation. This allows us to use the familiar classical formalism to understand quantum thermalization in this system. In particular, we demonstrate that sampling of an initial quantum state mimics a statistical mechanical ensemble, while subsequent chaotic classical evolution turns the initial quantum state into the thermal state.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.90.053602

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Thermalization in closed quantum systems can be understood either by means of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis or the concept of canonical typicality. Both concepts are based on quantum-mechanical formalism, such as spectral properties of the eigenstates or entanglement between subsystems, respectively. Here we study instead the onset of thermalization of Bose particles in a two-band double-well potential using the truncated Wigner approximation. This allows us to use the familiar classical formalism to understand quantum thermalization in this system. In particular, we demonstrate that sampling of an initial quantum state mimics a statistical mechanical ensemble, while subsequent chaotic classical evolution turns the initial quantum state into the thermal state.
The emergence of statistical mechanics from quantum dynamics is conventionally understood through quantum chaos, the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH), and canonical typicality, which together explain the thermal behavior of local observables in quantum many-body systems. We provide a distinct mechanism in which, for a quantum many-body system under strong random perturbation, the chaotic behavior of the system's eigenvectors and a constraint on the total energy directly generate a canonical ensemble for the entire system. The canonical ensemble occurs as the first moment of the Porter-Thomas distribution of the system's chaotic eigenstates, and the constraint on the total energy sets the temperature in the ensemble. This yields canonically distributed expectation values without invoking ETH, a microcanonical ensemble, or a subsystem-bath partition for local and global observables. We numerically demonstrate the mechanism for the 1D transverse-field Ising model by showing canonically distributed eigenstate projectors and spin-spin correlators with distinctive temperature dependence of the correlation length. An implementation of this thermalization approach on a quantum computer can be utilized for thermal state preparation.
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Using the ergodicity principle for the expectation values of several types of observables, we investigate the thermalization process in isolated fermionic systems. These are described by the two-body random ensemble, which is a paradigmatic model to study quantum chaos and especially the dynamical transition from integrability to chaos. By means of exact diagonalizations we analyze the relevance of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis as well as the influence of other factors, such as the energy and structure of the initial state, or the dimension of the Hilbert space. We also obtain analytical expressions linking the degree of thermalization for a given observable with the so-called number of principal components for transition strengths originating at a given energy, with the dimensions of the whole Hilbert space and microcanonical energy shell, and with the correlations generated by the observable. As the strength of the residual interaction is increased, an order-to-chaos transition takes place, and we show that the onset of Wigner spectral fluctuations, which is the standard signature of chaos, is not sufficient to guarantee thermalization in finite systems. When all the signatures of chaos are fulfilled, including the quasicomplete delocalization of eigenfunctions, the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis is the mechanism responsible for the thermalization of certain types of observables, such as (linear combinations of) occupancies and strength function operators. Our results also suggest that fully chaotic systems will thermalize relative to most observables in the thermodynamic limit.
The emergence of statistical mechanics for isolated classical systems comes about through chaotic dynamics and ergodicity. Here we review how similar questions can be answered in quantum systems. The crucial point is that individual energy eigenstates behave in many ways like a statistical ensemble. A more detailed statement of this is named the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH). The reasons for why it works in so many cases are rooted in the early work of Wigner on random matrix theory and our understanding of quantum chaos. The ETH has now been studied extensively by both analytic and numerical means, and applied to a number of physical situations ranging from black hole physics to condensed matter systems. It has recently become the focus of a number of experiments in highly isolated systems. Current theoretical work also focuses on where the ETH breaks down leading to new interesting phenomena. This review of the ETH takes a somewhat intuitive approach as to why it works and how this informs our understanding of many body quantum states.
The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis conjectures that for a thermodynamically large system in one of its energy eigenstates, the reduced density matrix describing any finite subsystem is determined solely by a set of relevant conserved quantities. In a chaotic quantum system, only the energy is expected to play that role and hence eigenstates appear locally thermal. Integrable systems, on the other hand, possess an extensive number of such conserved quantities and therefore the reduced density matrix requires specification of all the corresponding parameters (generalized Gibbs ensemble). However, here we show by unbiased statistical sampling of the individual eigenstates with a given finite energy density that the local description of an overwhelming majority of these states of even such an integrable system is actually Gibbs-like, i.e., requires only the energy density of the eigenstate. Rare eigenstates that cannot be represented by the Gibbs ensemble can also be sampled efficiently by our method and their local properties are then shown to be described by appropriately truncated generalized Gibbs ensembles. We further show that the presence of these rare eigenstates differentiates the model from the chaotic case and leads to the system being described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble at long time under a unitary dynamics following a sudden quench, even when the initial state is a typical (Gibbs-like) eigenstate of the prequench Hamiltonian.
We consider a minimal model for quantum thermalization of coupled chaotic subsystems. The route toward ergodicity is explored as a function of the coupling strength. The results are contrasted with the predictions of standard random matrix theory and the eigenstates thermalization hypothesis. We highlight a coupling regime of disparity between the spectral statistics that indicates chaos and ergodicity measures that indicate lack of eigenstate thermalization. The analysis involves a revision of the energy-shell concept, in a way that is consistent but independent of the semiclassical perspective.