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arXiv:1708.05383 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Higher-order generalized hydrodynamics in one dimension: The noninteracting test

Maurizio Fagotti

Published Dec 18, 2017• 135 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We derive a dynamical equation that describes the exact time evolution in generic (inhomogeneous) noninteracting spin-chain models. Assuming quasistationarity, we develop a (generalized) hydrodynamic theory. The question at hand is whether some large-time corrections are captured by higher-order hydrodynamics. We consider in particular the dynamics after two chains, prepared in different conditions, are joined together. In these situations, a light cone, separating regions with macroscopically different properties, emerges from the junction. In free fermionic systems some observables close to the light cone follow a universal behavior, known as Tracy-Widom scaling. Universality means a weak dependence on the system's details, so this is the perfect setting where hydrodynamics could emerge. For the transverse-field Ising chain and the $XX$ model, we show that hydrodynamics captures the scaling behavior close to the light cone. On the other hand, our numerical analysis suggests that hydrodynamics fails in more general models, whenever a condition is not satisfied.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.96.220302

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We derive a dynamical equation that describes the exact time evolution in generic (inhomogeneous) noninteracting spin-chain models. Assuming quasistationarity, we develop a (generalized) hydrodynamic theory. The question at hand is whether some large-time corrections are captured by higher-order hydrodynamics. We consider in particular the dynamics after two chains, prepared in different conditions, are joined together. In these situations, a light cone, separating regions with macroscopically different properties, emerges from the junction. In free fermionic systems some observables close to the light cone follow a universal behavior, known as Tracy-Widom scaling. Universality means a weak dependence on the system's details, so this is the perfect setting where hydrodynamics could emerge. For the transverse-field Ising chain and the XXXXXX model, we show that hydrodynamics captures the scaling behavior close to the light cone. On the other hand, our numerical analysis suggests that hydrodynamics fails in more general models, whenever a condition is not satisfied.
We study the dynamics of the statistics of the energy transferred across a point along a quantum chain which is prepared in the inhomogeneous initial state obtained by joining two identical semi-infinite parts thermalized at two different temperatures. In particular, we consider the transverse field Ising and harmonic chains as prototypical models of noninteracting fermionic and bosonic excitations, respectively. Within the so-called hydrodynamic limit of large space-time scales we first discuss the mean values of the energy density and current, and then, aiming at the statistics of fluctuations, we calculate exactly the scaled cumulant generating function of the transferred energy. From the latter, the evolution of the associated large deviation function is obtained. A natural interpretation of our results is provided in terms of a semiclassical picture of quasiparticles moving ballistically along classical trajectories. Similarities and differences between the transferred energy scaled cumulant and the large deviation functions in the cases of noninteracting fermions and bosons are discussed.
This Ph.D. thesis reports on progress in rigorously establishing hydrodynamic principles from the microscopic Hamiltonian dynamics of quantum many-body systems in a general, non-model-specific manner. Using the C*-algebra framework of statistical mechanics, we treat systems directly in the thermodynamic limit, primarily focusing on quantum lattice models where tools such as Lieb-Robinson bounds yield rigorous statements. We thus provide a proof-of-principle that large-scale behaviours can indeed be seen as emerging from microscopic dynamics, with mathematical proof. We first report on ergodicity results in short-range models with exponentially decaying or finite-range interactions. We show that time-averaged observables converge to their ensemble averages and decorrelate from all other observables almost everywhere within the light-cone defined by Lieb-Robinson bounds. This relaxation property indicates the loss of information at large scales, from which we prove a Boltzmann-Gibbs principle: at the Euler scaling limit of large time and distance, observables project onto hydrodynamic modes (extensive conserved quantities), within correlation functions. These results hold independently of microscopic details, capturing the physical idea that such details are lost at large space-time scales. Regarding finer scales of hydrodynamics, we discuss rigorous lower bounds on the strength of diffusion. We establish a general result on the clustering of n-th order connected correlations within C* dynamical systems. These results are applied to obtain a strictly positive lower bound on the diffusion constant of chaotic open quantum spin chains with nearest-neighbor interactions. This thesis underlines the universality of hydrodynamic principles, provides a framework for establishing them rigorously, and sets the stage for future progress toward the goal of proving the hydrodynamic equations.
We consider the out-of-equilibrium dynamics generated by joining two domains with arbitrary opposite magnetizations. We study the stationary state which emerges by the unitary evolution via the spin-1/2 XXZXXZXXZ Hamiltonian, in the gapless regime, where the system develops a stationary spin current. Using the generalized hydrodynamic approach, we present a simple formula for the space-time profile of the spin current and the magnetization exact in the limit of long times. As a remarkable effect, we show that the stationary state has a strongly discontinuous dependence on the strength of interaction as confirmed by the exact analytic expression of the Drude weight that we compute. These features allow us to give a qualitative estimation for the transient behavior of the current which is in good agreement with numerical simulations. Moreover, we analyze the behavior around the edge of the magnetization profile, and we argue that, unlike the XXXXXX free-fermionic point, interactions always prevent the emergence of a Tracy-Widom scaling.
Abstract The large-scale properties of homogeneous states after quantum quenches in integrable systems have been successfully described by a semiclassical picture of moving quasiparticles. Here we consider the generalisation for the entanglement evolution after an inhomogeneous quench in noninteracting systems in the framework of generalised hydrodynamics. We focus on the protocol where two semi-infinite halves are initially prepared in different states and then joined together, showing that a proper generalisation of the quasiparticle picture leads to exact quantitative predictions. If the system is initially prepared in a quasistationary state, we find that the entanglement entropy is additive and it can be computed by means of generalised hydrodynamics. Conversely, additivity is lost when the initial state is not quasistationary; yet the entanglement entropy in the large-scale limit can be exactly predicted in the quasiparticle picture, provided that the initial state is low entangled.
Abstract We study the dynamics of quantum information and of quantum correlations after a quantum quench, in transverse field Ising chains subject to generic linear dissipation. As we show, in the hydrodynamic limit of long times, large system sizes, and weak dissipation, entropy-related quantities—such as the von Neumann entropy, the Rényi entropies, and the associated mutual information—admit a simple description within the so-called quasiparticle picture. Specifically, we analytically derive a hydrodynamic formula, recently conjectured for generic noninteracting systems, which allows us to demonstrate a universal feature of the dynamics of correlations in such dissipative noninteracting system. For any possible dissipation, the mutual information grows up to a time scale that is proportional to the inverse dissipation rate, and then decreases, always vanishing in the long time limit. In passing, we provide analytic formulas describing the time-dependence of arbitrary functions of the fermionic covariance matrix, in the hydrodynamic limit.
The theory of generalized hydrodynamics (GHD) was recently developed as a new tool for the study of inhomogeneous time evolution in many-body interacting systems with infinitely many conserved charges. In this Letter, we show that it supersedes the widely used conventional hydrodynamics (CHD) of one-dimensional Bose gases. We illustrate this by studying "nonlinear sound waves" emanating from initial density accumulations in the Lieb-Liniger model. We show that, at zero temperature and in the absence of shocks, GHD reduces to CHD, thus for the first time justifying its use from purely hydrodynamic principles. We show that sharp profiles, which appear in finite times in CHD, immediately dissolve into a higher hierarchy of reductions of GHD, with no sustained shock. CHD thereon fails to capture the correct hydrodynamics. We establish the correct hydrodynamic equations, which are finite-dimensional reductions of GHD characterized by multiple, disjoint Fermi seas. We further verify that at nonzero temperature, CHD fails at all nonzero times. Finally, we numerically confirm the emergence of hydrodynamics at zero temperature by comparing its predictions with a full quantum simulation performed using the NRG-TSA-abacus algorithm. The analysis is performed in the full interaction range, and is not restricted to either weak- or strong-repulsion regimes.