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arXiv:1409.2689 · Physical Review E

Stationary ensemble approximations of dynamic quantum states: Optimizing the generalized Gibbs ensemble

Dries Sels, Michiel Wouters

Published Aug 17, 2015• 12 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this work we investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of closed quantum systems. In particular we focus on the stationary properties of integrable systems. Here we show how a generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE) can be constructed as the best approximation to the time-dependent density matrix. Our procedure allows for a systematic construction of the GGE by a constrained minimization of the distance between the latter and the true state. Moreover, we show that the entropy of the GGE is a direct measure for the quality of the approximation. We apply our method to a quenched hard core Bose gas. Whereas a correlated GGE properly describes all stationary nonlocal correlations, a simple harmonic GGE is sufficient to completely describe reduced local states.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.92.022123

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In this work we investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of closed quantum systems. In particular we focus on the stationary properties of integrable systems. Here we show how a generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE) can be constructed as the best approximation to the time-dependent density matrix. Our procedure allows for a systematic construction of the GGE by a constrained minimization of the distance between the latter and the true state. Moreover, we show that the entropy of the GGE is a direct measure for the quality of the approximation. We apply our method to a quenched hard core Bose gas. Whereas a correlated GGE properly describes all stationary nonlocal correlations, a simple harmonic GGE is sufficient to completely describe reduced local states.
The integrable system is constrained strictly by the conservation law during the time evolution, and the prethermal state from the nearly integrable system is also constrained by the conserved parameters (the constants of motion) with the corresponding generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE), which is indubitably a powerful tool in the prediction of the relaxation dynamics. For stochastic evolution dynamics with considerable noise, the two-point correlation of local operators (like the density of kinks or transverse magnetization correlators), which do not exhibit the thermal features, display the behaviors of nonthermalization and an asymptotic GGE. In fact it is an asymptotic quasi-steady state with an infinite temperature, therefore the required distance to the nonthermal steady state is in an infinite time average. In this paper, we unambiguously investigate the relaxation of a nonequilibrium system in a canonical ensemble for integrable and nonintegrable systems. Temporal behavior of the many-body quantum system and the corresponding linear-coupling between the harmonic oscillators are discussed. The matrix-method in entropy ensemble is utilized to discuss the boundary and the diagonalization algebraically. The approximation results for nonintegrable system under the considerable perturbations are also presented.
Integrable quantum many-body systems are considered to equilibrate to generalized Gibbs ensembles (GGEs). A general mechanism of such relaxation to GGE has been shown for unitary evolutions of exactly solvable quadratic bosonic systems in the thermodynamic limit. Here, we explore the role of locality and interaction with surroundings in the relaxation by considering the reduced dynamics of a class of open systems weakly interacting with a reservoir, which is initially prepared in a locally perturbed GGE. The standard derivation of a quantum master equation fails to describe relaxation to GGE in the long-time limit in the presence of the initial perturbation. We investigate a proper quantum master equation that guarantees the relaxation to GGE to avoid this counterintuitive issue and describes the relaxation to the reduced state corresponding to GGE in the thermodynamic limit. In particular, we show that the stationary state of the open system is fully characterized by GGE of the reservoir, which is independent of the initial local perturbation.
Integrable quantum systems evolving from non-equilibrium initial states do not thermalize to conventional Gibbs ensembles (GE). Instead, at long times they relax to generalized Gibbs ensembles (GGEs), which incorporate the full set of local and quasi-local conserved quantities. While GGEs have been extensively studied in the literature, a quantitative analytic characterization of how different they are from ordinary GEs is still lacking. In this work, we address this question by employing the concept of athermality, which we define within quantum resource theory as the relative entropy between a given state and the closest thermal state. By means of integrability techniques we compute the athermality for several quantum quenches in paradigmatic integrable models, including the free XY spin chain, the interacting Lieb-Liniger model, the XXZ spin chain, and the harmonic chain. We find that often the athermality becomes anomalously small when the post-quench Hamiltonian is critical in its ground state, despite probing physics at a finite energy density. We also prove that it systematically develops a singularity at criticality, which is inherited from the entropy of the GGE.
In noninteracting isolated quantum systems out of equilibrium, local subsystems typically relax to nonthermal stationary states. In the standard framework, information on the rest of the system is discarded, and such states are described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE), maximizing the entropy while respecting the constraints imposed by the local conservation laws. Here we show that the latter also completely characterize a recently introduced projected ensemble (PE), constructed by performing projective measurements on the rest of the system and recording the outcomes. By focusing on the time evolution of fermionic Gaussian states in a tight-binding chain, we put forward a random ensemble constructed out of the local conservation laws, which we call deep GGE (dGGE). For infinite-temperature initial states, we show that the dGGE coincides with a universal Haar random ensemble on the manifold of Gaussian states. For both infinite and finite temperatures, we use a Monte Carlo approach to test numerically the predictions of the dGGE against the PE. We study, in particular, the kkk moments of the state covariance matrix and the entanglement entropy, finding excellent agreement. Our work provides a first step towards a systematic characterization of projected ensembles beyond the case of chaotic systems and infinite temperatures.
In recent years, statistical physics tools have been used to study the dynamics of macroscopic quantum and classical integrable models. These studies have shown that, in the thermodynamic limit, long term time-averages of local observables equal statistical averages calculated with a Generalized Gibbs Ensemble (GGE). In the latter, the weight in phase space involves all constants of motion multiplied by Lagrange multipliers which are fixed by their initial values. We argue that the GGE can be interpreted as a proper Boltzmann measure of a different (non-standard) mechanical model. This measure can therefore be sampled with stochastic methods implemented, for example, as a Langevin process. We tailor the deterministic force in the Langevin equations so that at long times the stochastic trajectories sample the desired measure. We use the integrable Neumann Model -- the model of a classical particle constrained to move on a sphere under anisotropic harmonic potentials -- as a benchmark. We test the method in a setup where the Lagrange multipliers are fixed by the GGE governing the asymptotic dynamics of the isolated Neumann model following a quench. This problem has different phases depending on the initial conditions and quench protocol and, in all cases, with the stochastic evolution of an adequately tuned Langevin process we reproduce the asymptotic values of relevant observables.
The integrable system is constrained strictly by the conservation law during the time evolution, and the nearly integrable system or nonintegrable system is also constrained by the conserved parameters (like the constants of motion) with corresponding generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE) which is indubitability a powerful tool in the prediction of thr relaxation dynamics. For stochastic evolution dynamic with considerable noise, the obviously quantum or thermal correlations which don't exhibit the thermal behavior, (like the density of kinks or transverse magnetization correlators), display a asymptotic nonthermalization, and in fact it's a asymptotic quasisteady state with a infinte temperature, therefore the required distance to the nonthermal steady state is in a infinite time average. In this paper, we unambiguously investigate the relaxation of a nonequilibrium system in a canonical ensemble for integrable system or nonintegrable system, and the temporal behavior of many-body quantum system and the macroscopic system, as well as the corresponding linear-coupling between harmonic oscillators. Matrix-method in entropy ensemble is also utilized to discuss the boundary and the important diagonalization, the approximation by the perturbation theory is also obtained.