We prove the approach to equilibrium of quenched isolated quantum systems for which the change in the Hamiltonian brought about by the quench satisfies a certain closed commutator algebra with all the extensive integrals of motion of the system before the quench. The proof is carried out by following the exact unitary evolution of the entropy operator, defined as the negative of the logarithm of the nonequilibrium density matrix, and showing that, under the conditions implied by the assumed algebra, this entropy operator becomes, at infinite times, a linear combination of integrals of motion of the perturbed system. That is, we show how the nonequilibrium density matrix approaches a generalized Gibbs ensemble. The restricted class of systems for which the present results apply turn out to have degenerate spectra in general, as opposed to some generic systems for which a kind of ergodicity is expected, with a nontrivial dynamics believed to find instances in one-dimensional infinite super-integrable systems. Our findings constitute a direct demonstration of how a non-ergodic isolated quantum system may get to statistical equilibrium.
We prove the approach to equilibrium of quenched isolated quantum systems for which the change in the Hamiltonian brought about by the quench satisfies a certain closed commutator algebra with all the extensive integrals of motion of the system before the quench. The proof is carried out by following the exact unitary evolution of the entropy operator, defined as the negative of the logarithm of the nonequilibrium density matrix, and showing that, under the conditions implied by the assumed algebra, this entropy operator becomes, at infinite times, a linear combination of integrals of motion of the perturbed system. That is, we show how the nonequilibrium density matrix approaches a generalized Gibbs ensemble. The restricted class of systems for which the present results apply turn out to have degenerate spectra in general, as opposed to some generic systems for which a kind of ergodicity is expected, with a nontrivial dynamics believed to find instances in one-dimensional infinite super-integrable systems. Our findings constitute a direct demonstration of how a non-ergodic isolated quantum system may get to statistical equilibrium.
What is the long-time behavior of a quantum system after it is brought out of equilibrium? In a generic case, it has been proposed that an effective thermalization occurs, and the local properties of the system can then be described by a thermal Gibbs ensemble. However, in integrable systems, with infinitely many conservation laws, the answer is far more complicated. It was shown in several special cases that the long-time steady state can be exactly described by the so called complete generalized Gibbs ensemble. The latter can be obtained by maximizing the entropy with constraints imposed by the conservation of energy, but also by additional carefully chosen subset of the integrals of motion. In this work, the authors analyze more general initial states, focusing on integrable XXZ Heisenberg spin chains. They find that the complete generalized Gibbs ensemble indeed correctly describes the system at long times after the quench.
This paper is concerned with the ergodic subspaces of the state spaces of isolated quantum systems. We prove a new ergodic theorem for closed quantum systems which shows that the equilibrium state of the system takes the form of a grand canonical density matrix involving a complete commuting set of observables including the Hamiltonian. The result obtained, which is derived for a generic finite-dimensional quantum system, shows that the equilibrium state arising from unitary evolution is always expressible in the canonical form, without the consideration of a system-bath decomposition.
This paper is concerned with the ergodic subspaces of the state spaces of isolated quantum systems. We prove a new ergodic theorem for closed quantum systems which shows that the equilibrium state of the system takes the form of a grand canonical density matrix involving a complete commuting set of observables including the Hamiltonian. The result obtained, which is derived for a generic finite-dimensional quantum system, shows that the equilibrium state arising from unitary evolution is always expressible in the canonical form, without the consideration of a system-bath decomposition.
A diagonal entropy, which depends only on the diagonal elements of the system's density matrix in the energy representation, has been recently introduced as the proper definition of thermodynamic entropy in out-of-equilibrium quantum systems. We study this quantity after an interaction quench in lattice hard-core bosons and spinless fermions, and after a local chemical potential quench in a system of hard-core bosons in a superlattice potential. The former systems have a chaotic regime, where the diagonal entropy becomes equivalent to the equilibrium microcanonical entropy, coinciding with the onset of thermalization. The latter system is integrable. We show that its diagonal entropy is additive and different from the entropy of a generalized Gibbs ensemble, which has been introduced to account for the effects of conserved quantities at integrability.
We present two directions of research in statistical mechanics of nonequilibrium onedimensional quantum systems. One is related to isolated integrable models, the other one to exactly solvable dissipatively driven spin chains. The device enabling their analysis is identified as the quantum group symmetry.
In the framework of isolated systems we focus on the concept of integrable Floquet driven systems. In particular, we show how to build such systems out of the basic constituents of integrability structure. This allows substantiated and conclusive statements,for instance, about the transport phenomena. Despite their inherent relation, the presented integrable periodically driven models originate in two different ideas. On the one hand we have Trotterisations of integrable
spin chains, concieved in an effort to better understand the dynamics of spin models. Then, there are systems originating in the attempts to solve quantum field theory in an algebraically closed form, for example, the quantum Hirota equation. The bulk of our consideration of isolated quantum systems consists of the construction of extensive conservation laws that either (i) constitute the generalised Gibbs ensemble and the hydrodynamic description of thermalisation after a quantum quench, or (ii) prevent the decay of current autocorrelations and thus characterise ideal transport in the system. The exact way in which these charges determine the dynamics stems from the symmetries of the quantum group representations.
The second part of the exposition is dedicated to open quantum systems. Again we distinguish two formally related settings. The first one is that of a boundary driven quantum cellular automaton, our particular example being the integrable Trotterisation of the Heisenberg magnet. Starting from a repeated interaction protocol, in which the system under scrutiny is repeatedly coupled to the environment, we introduce the Kraus map as a general form of a dissipative time evolution of the density matrix. We then solve for its unique nonequilibrium steady state, using integrability structure of the model. The other setting is that of a dissipatively boundary driven spin chain in the continuous time. Here we present the recently developed formalism of inhomogeneous Lax structure. Using it we demonstrate the solvability of the XXZ and XYZ spin chains, acted upon by the Lindblad operators that polarise the boundary spins in arbitrary directions. The ansatz for the steady state is particularly interesting, since it exhibits a
previously unknown integrability structure, differing from site to site in the spin chain. This structure can independently produce nontrivial conservation laws in an isolated spin
chain with arbitrary boundary fields.
The construction of the generalized Gibbs ensemble, to which isolated integrable quantum many-body systems relax after a quantum quench, is based upon the principle of maximum entropy. In contrast, there are no universal and model-independent laws that govern the relaxation dynamics and stationary states of open quantum systems, which are subjected to Markovian drive and dissipation. Yet, as we show, relaxation of driven-dissipative systems after a quantum quench can, in fact, be determined by a maximum entropy ensemble, if the Liouvillian that generates the dynamics of the system has parity-time symmetry. Focusing on the specific example of a driven-dissipative Kitaev chain, we show that, similar to isolated integrable systems, the approach to a parity-time symmetric generalized Gibbs ensemble becomes manifest in the relaxation of local observables and the dynamics of subsystem entropies. In contrast, the directional pumping of fermion parity, which is induced by nontrivial non-Hermitian topology of the Kitaev chain, represents a phenomenon that is unique to relaxation dynamics in driven-dissipative systems. Upon increasing the strength of dissipation, parity-time symmetry is broken at a finite critical value, which thus constitutes a sharp dynamical transition that delimits the applicability of the principle of maximum entropy. We show that these results, which we obtain for the specific example of the Kitaev chain, apply to broad classes of noninteracting fermionic models, and we discuss their generalization to a noninteracting bosonic model and an interacting spin chain.