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arXiv:1409.5764

Spreading in Integrable and Non--integrable Many--body Systems

Johannes Freese, Boris Gutkin, Thomas Guhr

Published Sep 19, 2014• 0 citations
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Abstract

We consider a finite, closed and selfbound many--body system in which a collective degree of freedom is excited. The redistribution of energy and momentum into a finite number of the non-collective degrees of freedom is referred to as spreading as opposed to damping in open systems. Spreading closely relates to thermalization, but while thermalization requires non-integrability, spreading can also present in integrable systems. We identify subtle features which determine the onset of spreading in an integrable model and compare the result with a non--integrable case.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1409.5764

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We consider a finite, closed and selfbound many--body system in which a collective degree of freedom is excited. The redistribution of energy and momentum into a finite number of the non-collective degrees of freedom is referred to as spreading as opposed to damping in open systems. Spreading closely relates to thermalization, but while thermalization requires non-integrability, spreading can also present in integrable systems. We identify subtle features which determine the onset of spreading in an integrable model and compare the result with a non--integrable case.
We study the emergence of collective dynamics in the integrable Hamiltonian system of two finite ensembles of coupled harmonic oscillators. After identification of a collective degree of freedom, the Hamiltonian is mapped onto a model of Caldeira-Leggett type, where the collective coordinate is coupled to an internal bath of phonons. In contrast to the usual Caldeira-Leggett model, the bath in the present case is part of the system. We derive an equation of motion for the collective coordinate which takes the form of a damped harmonic oscillator. We show that the distribution of quantum transition strengths induced by the collective mode is determined by its classical dynamics. This allows us to derive the spreading for the collective coordinate from first principles. After that we study the interplay between collective and incoherent single--particle motion in a model of two chains of particles whose interaction comprises a non--integrable part. In the perturbative regime, but for a general form of the interaction, we calculate the Fourier transform of the time correlation for the collective coordinate. We obtain the remarkable result that it always has a unique semi-classical interpretation. We show this by a proper renormalization procedure which also allows us to map the non-integrable system to the integrable model of Caldeira--Leggett--type considered previously in which the bath is part of the system.
Many-body localized (MBL) systems fail to reach thermal equilibrium under their own dynamics, even though they are interacting, nonintegrable, and in an extensively excited state. One instability toward thermalization of MBL systems is the so-called "avalanche," where a locally thermalizing rare region is able to spread thermalization through the full system. The spreading of the avalanche may be modeled and numerically studied in finite one-dimensional MBL systems by weakly coupling an infinite-temperature bath to one end of the system. We find that the avalanche spreads primarily via strong many-body resonances between rare near-resonant eigenstates of the closed system. Thus we find and explore a detailed connection between many-body resonances and avalanches in MBL systems.
We study the interplay between collective and incoherent single-particle motion in a model of two chains of particles whose interaction comprises a non-integrable part. In the perturbative regime, but for a general form of the interaction, we calculate the spectral density for collective excitations. We obtain the remarkable result that it always has a unique semiclassical interpretation. We show this by a proper renormalization procedure which allows us to map our system to a Caldeira-Leggett–type model in which the bath is part of the system.
We study the emergence of collective dynamics in the integrable Hamiltonian system of two finite ensembles of coupled harmonic oscillators. After identification of a collective degree of freedom, the Hamiltonian is mapped onto a model of Caldeira-Leggett type, where the collective coordinate is coupled to an internal bath of phonons. In contrast to the usual Caldeira-Leggett model, the bath in the present case is part of the system. We derive an equation of motion for the collective coordinate which takes the form of a damped harmonic oscillator. We show that the distribution of quantum transition strengths induced by the collective mode is determined by its classical dynamics.
Thermalization in open systems coupled to macroscopic environments is usually analyzed from the perspective of relaxation of the reduced state of the system to the equilibrium state. Less emphasis is given to the change of the state of the bath. However, as previously shown for some specific models, during the thermalization the environment may undergo a nontrivial dynamics, indicated by the the change of its von Neumann entropy, at timescales even longer than the relaxation time of the system; here such a behavior is called post-thermalization. We provide a more detailed analysis of this phenomenon by simulating the full dynamics of a variety of systems together with their environment. In particular, the post-thermalization is qualitatively explained as a result of reconversion of the initially built up correlation between the system and the bath into the correlation between the degrees of freedom in the environment. We also present exemplary systems in which such a reconversion is suppressed due to non-Markovian dynamics or the presence of interactions.
Thermalization has been shown to occur in a number of closed quantum many-body systems, but the description of the actual thermalization dynamics is prohibitively complex. Here, we present a model-in one and two dimensions-for which we can analytically show that the evolution into thermal equilibrium is governed by a Fokker-Planck equation derived from the underlying quantum dynamics. Our approach does not rely on a formal distinction of weakly coupled bath and system degrees of freedom. The results show that transitions within narrow energy shells lead to a dynamics which is dominated by entropy and establishes detailed balance conditions that determine both the eventual equilibrium state and the nonequilibrium relaxation to it.