Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2101.00795

Bridging the Gap Between the Transient and the Steady State of a Nonequilibrium Quantum System

Herbert F. Fotso, Eric Dohner, Alexander F. Kemper, James K. Freericks

Published Jan 4, 2021• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Many-body quantum systems in nonequilibrium remain one of the frontiers of many-body physics. While there has been significant advances in describing the short-time evolution of these systems using a variety of different numerical algorithms, it has been quite difficult to evolve a system from an equilibrium state prior to the application of a driving field, to the long-time steady (or periodically oscillating) state. These dynamics are complex: the retarded quantities tend to approach their long-time limit much faster than the lesser (or greater) quantities. Recent work on strongly correlated electrons in DC electric fields illustrated that the system may evolve through successive quasi-thermal states obeying an effective fluctuation-dissipation theorem in time. We demonstrate an extrapolation scheme that uses the short-time transient calculation to obtain the retarded quantities and to extract how the lesser/greater quantities vary with time and then extend the numerical solutions all the way to the steady state, with minimal additional computational cost. Our approach focuses on extrapolating the electronic self-energy and then employing that to determine the Green's function and various experimentally relevant expectation values.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2101.00795

Related papers

Characterizing the Non-equilibrium Dynamics of Field-Driven Correlated Quantum Systems

Herbert F. Fotso, James K. Freericks

Recent experimental advances in ultrafast phenomena have triggered renewed interest in the dynamics of correlated quantum systems away from equilibrium. We review nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory studies of both the transient and the steady states of a DC field-driven correlated quantum system. In particular, we focus on the nonequilibrium behavior and how it relates to the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The fluctuation-dissipation theorem emerges as an indicator for how the system thermalizes and for how it reaches a steady state. When the system thermalizes in an infinite temperature steady state it can pass through a succession of quasi-thermal states that approximately obey the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. We also discuss the Wigner distribution and what its evolution tells us about the nonequilibrium many-body problem.

arXiv:2005.11276•Frontiers in Physics•Aug 26, 2020•10 citations

Thermalization and long-time behavior of nonequilibrium correlated quantum systems

Herbert F. Fotso

Nonequilibrium dynamical mean field theory and nonequilibrium self-consistent strong coupling expansion[1] are used to study the relaxation of correlated quantum systems driven out of equilibrium by DC electric fields[2]. Both the FalicovKimball and the Hubbard model are found to exhibit regimes of monotonic or oscillatory themalization as well as regimes where they evolve in a monotonic or oscillatory manner towards a non-thermal state. This suggests that driven quantum systems have a richer behavior than their quenched counterparts and that integrability does not play as critical a role. In the monotonic thermalization scenario, the system evolves through successive quasi-thermal states and it is possible to extrapolate its long time properties from its transient; bridging the gap between the transient and the steady state with very little computational cost. Furthermore, regardless of the relaxation scenario, it is interesting to ask how the particles are distributed as the system evolves in time. We will show that non-trivial parameter-dependent patterns are formed when the system is visualized in momentum space [3]. These features should be observable in current cold atom experiments.

Bulletin of the American Physical Society•Mar 6, 2015•0 citations

Non-Equilibrium Dynamical Mean Field Theory with Quantum Monte Carlo

Qiaoyuan Dong

This work is motivated by the fact that the investigation of non-equilibrium phenomena in strongly correlated electron systems has developed into one of the most active and exciting branches of condensed matter physics as it provides rich new insights that could not be obtained from the study of equilibrium situations. However, a theoretical description of those phenomena is missing. Therefore, in this thesis, we develop a numerical method that can be used to study two minimal models -- the Hubbard model and the Anderson impurity model with general parameter range and time dependence. We begin by introducing the theoretical framework and the general features of the Hubbard model. We then describe the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), which was first invented by Georges in 1992. It provides a feasible way to approach strongly correlated electron systems and reduces the complexity of the calculations via a mapping of lattice models onto quantum impurity models subject to a self-consistency condition. We employ the non-equilibrium extension of DMFT and map the Hubbard model to the single impurity Anderson model (SIAM). Since the fundamental component of the DMFT method is a solver of the single impurity Anderson model, we continue with a description of the formalism to study the real-time dynamics of the impurity model staring at its thermal equilibrium state. We utilize the non-equilibrium strong-coupling perturbation theory and derive semi-analytical approximation methods such as the non-crossing approximation (NCA) and the one-crossing approximation (OCA). We then use the Quantum Monte-Carlo method (QMC) as a numerically exact method and present proper measurements of local observables, current and Green's functions. We perform simulations of the current after a quantum quench from equilibrium by rapidly applying a bias voltage in a wide range of initial temperatures. The current exhibits short equilibrium times and saturates upon the decrease of temperature at all times, indicating Kondo behavior both in the transient regime and in the steady state. However, this bare QMC solver suffers from a dynamical sign problem for long time propagations. To overcome the limitations of this bare treatment, we introduce the ``Inchworm algorithm'', based on iteratively reusing the information obtained in previous steps to extend the propagation to longer times and stabilize the calculations. We show that this algorithm greatly reduces the required order for each simulation and re-scales the exponential challenge to quadratic in time. We introduce a method to compute Green's functions, spectral functions, and currents for inchworm Monte Carlo and show how systematic error assessments in real time can be obtained. We illustrate the capabilities of the algorithm with a study of the behavior of quantum impurities after an instantaneous voltage quench from a thermal equilibrium state. We conclude with the applications of the unbiased inchworm impurity solver to DMFT calculations. We employ the methods for a study of the one-band paramagnetic Hubbard model on the Bethe lattice in equilibrium, where the DMFT approximation becomes exact. We begin with a brief introduction of the Mott metal insulator phase diagram. We present the results of both real time Green's functions and spectral functions from our nonequilibrium calculations. We observe the metal-insulator crossover as the on-site interaction is increased and the formation of a quasi-particle peak as the temperature is lowered. We also illustrate the convergence of our algorithms in different aspects.

•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations

Nonequilibrium steady state for strongly correlated many-body systems: Variational cluster approach

Michael Knap, Wolfgang von der Linden, Enrico Arrigoni

A numerical approach is presented that allows to compute nonequilibrium steady-state properties of strongly correlated quantum many-body systems. The method is imbedded in the Keldysh Green's function formalism and is based upon the idea of the variational cluster approach as far as the treatment of strong correlations is concerned. It appears that the variational aspect is crucial as it allows for a suitable optimization of a ``reference'' system to the nonequilibrium target state. The approach is neither perturbative in the many-body interaction nor in the field, that drives the system out of equilibrium, and it allows to study strong perturbations and nonlinear responses of systems in which also the correlated region is spatially extended. We apply the presented approach to nonlinear transport across a strongly correlated quantum wire described by the fermionic Hubbard model. We illustrate how the method bridges to cluster dynamical mean-field theory upon coupling two baths containing an increasing number of uncorrelated sites.

arXiv:1104.3838•Physical Review B•Sep 27, 2011•32 citations

Many-body approach to time-dependent quantum transport

Anna-Maija Uimonen

In this thesis the electron transport through interacting quantum wires is studied.The time-dependent properties of the system are investigated by using the non-equilibrium Green function technique.This technique provides a way to include ultra-fast timedependent processes, arbitrary strong external fields and also brings forward an effective treatment of electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions.The electronelectron interactions are included via various self-energy approximations at Hartree-Fock, second-order Born and GW levels.These approximations are called conserving since they fulfill the physical conservation laws like the charge conservation law.The interacting central system is coupled to one-dimensional tight-binding leads, which are considered effectively as noninteracting.The system is perturbed by a bias voltage after which the time-evolution of the system is followed by Kadanoff-Baym equations.The non-equilibrium steady-state value of the current depends on the used self-energy approximation, which indicates the importance of the history-dependence in the calculation of current.This is an important observation in the aspect of time-dependent density functional theory, since it is one indication for the need of functionals with memory.The steady-state current is independent of the initial state, which is in accordance with the memory-loss theorem.The transient current shows small oscillations, which are consequence of the density oscillations especially in the first and last site.The density oscillations in the sites are effect of the electron transition from the lead to the central system and vice versa.

•Jan 1, 2009•0 citations

NESSi 2.0: The Non-Equilibrium Systems Simulation package version 2.0

Fabian Künzel, Michael Schüler, Denis Golež +7 more

Nonequilibrium Green’s functions provide a powerful framework for studying quantum many-body dynamics including the laser-induced dynamics in solids. The N on- E quilibrium S ystems Si mulation package ( NESSi ) offers an efficient platform for such simulations, ranging from perturbative approaches like nonequilibrium GW to nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory. However, simulations based on nonequilibrium Green’s functions become computationally demanding when the dynamics span a large temporal range, such as from sub-femtosecond electron dynamics to the picosecond dynamics of collective modes. Due to the memory integral in the Kadanoff-Baym equations, which serve as equations of motion for nonequilibrium Green’s functions, the computational cost scales as 𝒪 ⁡ ( 𝑁 3 𝑡 ) with the number of timesteps N t , and the memory requirement scales as 𝒪 ⁡ ( 𝑁 2 𝑡 ) . In this work, we extend NESSi by incorporating techniques that aim to overcome this bottleneck: (i) By truncating the memory integrals in the KBE to a maximum of N c timesteps, the computational complexity is reduced to 𝒪 ⁡ ( 𝑁 𝑡 ⁢ 𝑁 2 𝑐 ) , and the memory requirement to 𝒪 ⁡ ( 𝑁 2 𝑐 ) . Provided that the results converge with respect to the cutoff N c , memory truncation allows to extend the simulations to significantly longer times. (ii) We introduce functionalities to describe nonequilibrium steady states, i.e. time-translationally invariant nonequilibrium states. Such states are relevant for transport settings, and they provide an approximate description of slowly evolving (prethermal) nonequilibrium states.

arXiv:2605.02606•Computer Physics Communications•Oct 9, 2026•0 citations
Many-body quantum systems in nonequilibrium remain one of the frontiers of many-body physics. While there has been significant advances in describing the short-time evolution of these systems using a variety of different numerical algorithms, it has been quite difficult to evolve a system from an equilibrium state prior to the application of a driving field, to the long-time steady (or periodically oscillating) state. These dynamics are complex: the retarded quantities tend to approach their long-time limit much faster than the lesser (or greater) quantities. Recent work on strongly correlated electrons in DC electric fields illustrated that the system may evolve through successive quasi-thermal states obeying an effective fluctuation-dissipation theorem in time. We demonstrate an extrapolation scheme that uses the short-time transient calculation to obtain the retarded quantities and to extract how the lesser/greater quantities vary with time and then extend the numerical solutions all the way to the steady state, with minimal additional computational cost. Our approach focuses on extrapolating the electronic self-energy and then employing that to determine the Green's function and various experimentally relevant expectation values.
Recent experimental advances in ultrafast phenomena have triggered renewed interest in the dynamics of correlated quantum systems away from equilibrium. We review nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory studies of both the transient and the steady states of a DC field-driven correlated quantum system. In particular, we focus on the nonequilibrium behavior and how it relates to the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The fluctuation-dissipation theorem emerges as an indicator for how the system thermalizes and for how it reaches a steady state. When the system thermalizes in an infinite temperature steady state it can pass through a succession of quasi-thermal states that approximately obey the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. We also discuss the Wigner distribution and what its evolution tells us about the nonequilibrium many-body problem.
Nonequilibrium dynamical mean field theory and nonequilibrium self-consistent strong coupling expansion[1] are used to study the relaxation of correlated quantum systems driven out of equilibrium by DC electric fields[2]. Both the FalicovKimball and the Hubbard model are found to exhibit regimes of monotonic or oscillatory themalization as well as regimes where they evolve in a monotonic or oscillatory manner towards a non-thermal state. This suggests that driven quantum systems have a richer behavior than their quenched counterparts and that integrability does not play as critical a role. In the monotonic thermalization scenario, the system evolves through successive quasi-thermal states and it is possible to extrapolate its long time properties from its transient; bridging the gap between the transient and the steady state with very little computational cost. Furthermore, regardless of the relaxation scenario, it is interesting to ask how the particles are distributed as the system evolves in time. We will show that non-trivial parameter-dependent patterns are formed when the system is visualized in momentum space [3]. These features should be observable in current cold atom experiments.
This work is motivated by the fact that the investigation of non-equilibrium phenomena in strongly correlated electron systems has developed into one of the most active and exciting branches of condensed matter physics as it provides rich new insights that could not be obtained from the study of equilibrium situations. However, a theoretical description of those phenomena is missing. Therefore, in this thesis, we develop a numerical method that can be used to study two minimal models -- the Hubbard model and the Anderson impurity model with general parameter range and time dependence. We begin by introducing the theoretical framework and the general features of the Hubbard model. We then describe the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), which was first invented by Georges in 1992. It provides a feasible way to approach strongly correlated electron systems and reduces the complexity of the calculations via a mapping of lattice models onto quantum impurity models subject to a self-consistency condition. We employ the non-equilibrium extension of DMFT and map the Hubbard model to the single impurity Anderson model (SIAM). Since the fundamental component of the DMFT method is a solver of the single impurity Anderson model, we continue with a description of the formalism to study the real-time dynamics of the impurity model staring at its thermal equilibrium state. We utilize the non-equilibrium strong-coupling perturbation theory and derive semi-analytical approximation methods such as the non-crossing approximation (NCA) and the one-crossing approximation (OCA). We then use the Quantum Monte-Carlo method (QMC) as a numerically exact method and present proper measurements of local observables, current and Green's functions. We perform simulations of the current after a quantum quench from equilibrium by rapidly applying a bias voltage in a wide range of initial temperatures. The current exhibits short equilibrium times and saturates upon the decrease of temperature at all times, indicating Kondo behavior both in the transient regime and in the steady state. However, this bare QMC solver suffers from a dynamical sign problem for long time propagations. To overcome the limitations of this bare treatment, we introduce the ``Inchworm algorithm'', based on iteratively reusing the information obtained in previous steps to extend the propagation to longer times and stabilize the calculations. We show that this algorithm greatly reduces the required order for each simulation and re-scales the exponential challenge to quadratic in time. We introduce a method to compute Green's functions, spectral functions, and currents for inchworm Monte Carlo and show how systematic error assessments in real time can be obtained. We illustrate the capabilities of the algorithm with a study of the behavior of quantum impurities after an instantaneous voltage quench from a thermal equilibrium state. We conclude with the applications of the unbiased inchworm impurity solver to DMFT calculations. We employ the methods for a study of the one-band paramagnetic Hubbard model on the Bethe lattice in equilibrium, where the DMFT approximation becomes exact. We begin with a brief introduction of the Mott metal insulator phase diagram. We present the results of both real time Green's functions and spectral functions from our nonequilibrium calculations. We observe the metal-insulator crossover as the on-site interaction is increased and the formation of a quasi-particle peak as the temperature is lowered. We also illustrate the convergence of our algorithms in different aspects.
A numerical approach is presented that allows to compute nonequilibrium steady-state properties of strongly correlated quantum many-body systems. The method is imbedded in the Keldysh Green's function formalism and is based upon the idea of the variational cluster approach as far as the treatment of strong correlations is concerned. It appears that the variational aspect is crucial as it allows for a suitable optimization of a ``reference'' system to the nonequilibrium target state. The approach is neither perturbative in the many-body interaction nor in the field, that drives the system out of equilibrium, and it allows to study strong perturbations and nonlinear responses of systems in which also the correlated region is spatially extended. We apply the presented approach to nonlinear transport across a strongly correlated quantum wire described by the fermionic Hubbard model. We illustrate how the method bridges to cluster dynamical mean-field theory upon coupling two baths containing an increasing number of uncorrelated sites.
In this thesis the electron transport through interacting quantum wires is studied.The time-dependent properties of the system are investigated by using the non-equilibrium Green function technique.This technique provides a way to include ultra-fast timedependent processes, arbitrary strong external fields and also brings forward an effective treatment of electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions.The electronelectron interactions are included via various self-energy approximations at Hartree-Fock, second-order Born and GW levels.These approximations are called conserving since they fulfill the physical conservation laws like the charge conservation law.The interacting central system is coupled to one-dimensional tight-binding leads, which are considered effectively as noninteracting.The system is perturbed by a bias voltage after which the time-evolution of the system is followed by Kadanoff-Baym equations.The non-equilibrium steady-state value of the current depends on the used self-energy approximation, which indicates the importance of the history-dependence in the calculation of current.This is an important observation in the aspect of time-dependent density functional theory, since it is one indication for the need of functionals with memory.The steady-state current is independent of the initial state, which is in accordance with the memory-loss theorem.The transient current shows small oscillations, which are consequence of the density oscillations especially in the first and last site.The density oscillations in the sites are effect of the electron transition from the lead to the central system and vice versa.
Nonequilibrium Green’s functions provide a powerful framework for studying quantum many-body dynamics including the laser-induced dynamics in solids. The N on- E quilibrium S ystems Si mulation package ( NESSi ) offers an efficient platform for such simulations, ranging from perturbative approaches like nonequilibrium GW to nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory. However, simulations based on nonequilibrium Green’s functions become computationally demanding when the dynamics span a large temporal range, such as from sub-femtosecond electron dynamics to the picosecond dynamics of collective modes. Due to the memory integral in the Kadanoff-Baym equations, which serve as equations of motion for nonequilibrium Green’s functions, the computational cost scales as 𝒪 ⁡ ( 𝑁 3 𝑡 ) with the number of timesteps N t , and the memory requirement scales as 𝒪 ⁡ ( 𝑁 2 𝑡 ) . In this work, we extend NESSi by incorporating techniques that aim to overcome this bottleneck: (i) By truncating the memory integrals in the KBE to a maximum of N c timesteps, the computational complexity is reduced to 𝒪 ⁡ ( 𝑁 𝑡 ⁢ 𝑁 2 𝑐 ) , and the memory requirement to 𝒪 ⁡ ( 𝑁 2 𝑐 ) . Provided that the results converge with respect to the cutoff N c , memory truncation allows to extend the simulations to significantly longer times. (ii) We introduce functionalities to describe nonequilibrium steady states, i.e. time-translationally invariant nonequilibrium states. Such states are relevant for transport settings, and they provide an approximate description of slowly evolving (prethermal) nonequilibrium states.