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arXiv:2104.05068 · Physical Review A

Wigner function for noninteracting fermions in hard-wall potentials

Benjamin De Bruyne, David S. Dean, Pierre Le Doussal, Satya N. Majumdar, Grégory Schehr

Published Jul 21, 2021• 15 citations
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Abstract

The Wigner function ${W}_{N}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})$ is a useful quantity to characterize the quantum fluctuations of an $N$-body system in its phase space. Here we study ${W}_{N}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})$ for $N$ noninteracting spinless fermions in a $d$-dimensional spherical hard box of radius $R$ at temperature $T=0$. In the large-$N$ limit, the local-density approximation predicts that ${W}_{N}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})\ensuremath{\approx}1/{(2\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\hbar})}^{d}$ inside a finite region of the $(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})$ plane, namely, for $|\mathbf{x}|<R$ and $|\mathbf{p}|<{k}_{F}$, where ${k}_{F}$ is the Fermi momentum, while ${W}_{N}(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{p})$ vanishes outside this region, or droplet, on a scale determined by quantum fluctuations. In this paper we investigate systematically, in this quantum region, the structure of the Wigner function along the edge of this droplet, called the Fermi surf. In one dimension, we find that there are three distinct edge regions along the Fermi surf and we compute exactly the associated nontrivial scaling functions in each regime. We also study the momentum distribution ${\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{N}(p)$ and find a striking algebraic tail for very large momenta ${\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{N}(p)\ensuremath{\propto}1/{p}^{4}$, well beyond ${k}_{F}$, reminiscent of a similar tail found in interacting quantum systems (discussed in the context of Tan's relation). We then generalize these results to higher $d$ and find, remarkably, that the scaling function close to the edge of the box is universal, i.e., independent of the dimension $d$.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.104.013314

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We consider the real-time dynamics of N noninteracting fermions in d = 1. They evolve in a trapping potential V ( x ), starting from the equilibrium state in a potential V 0 ( x ). We study the time evolution of the Wigner function W ( x , p , t ) in the phase space ( x , p ), and the associated kernel which encodes all correlation functions. At t = 0 the Wigner function for large N is uniform in phase space inside the Fermi volume, and vanishes at the Fermi surf over a scale e N being described by a universal scaling function related to the Airy function. We obtain exact solutions for the Wigner function, the density, and the correlations in the case of harmonic and inverse square potentials, for several V 0 ( x ). In the large- N limit, near the edges where the density vanishes, we obtain limiting kernels (of the Airy or Bessel types) that retain the form found in equilibrium, up to a time-dependent rescaling. For nonharmonic traps the evolution of the Fermi volume is more complex. Nevertheless we show that, for intermediate times, the Fermi surf is still described by the same equilibrium scaling function, with a nontrivial time- and space-dependent width which we compute analytically. We discuss the multi-time correlations and obtain their explicit scaling forms valid near the edge for the harmonic oscillator. Finally, we address the large-time limit where relaxation to the Generalized Gibbs Ensemble (GGE) was found to occur in the “classical” regime . Using the diagonal ensemble we compute the Wigner function in the quantum case (large N , fixed ℏ ) and show that it agrees with the GGE. We also obtain the higher order (nonlocal) correlations in the diagonal ensemble.
Motivated by the realization of hard-wall boundary conditions in experiments with ultracold atoms, we investigate the ground-state properties of spin-1/2 fermions with attractive interactions in a one-dimensional box.We use lattice Monte Carlo methods to determine essential quantities like the energy, which we compute as a function of coupling strength and particle number in the regime from few to many particles.Many-fermion systems bound by hard walls display non-trivial density profiles characterized by so-called Friedel oscillations (which are similar to those observed in harmonic traps).In non-interacting systems, the characteristic length scale of the oscillations is set by (2k F ) -1 , where k F is the Fermi momentum, while repulsive interactions tend to generate Wignercrystal oscillations of period (4k F ) -1 .Based on the non-interacting result, we find a remarkably simple parametrization of the density profiles of the attractively interacting case, which we generalize to the one-body density matrix.While the total momentum is not a conserved quantity in the presence of hard walls, the magnitude of the momentum does provide a good quantum number.We are therefore able to provide a detailed characterization of the (quasi-)momentum distribution, which displays rather robust discontinuity at the Fermi surface.In addition, we determine the spatially varying on-site density-density correlation, which in turn yields Tan's contact density and, upon integration, Tan's contact.As is well known, the latter fully determines the short-range correlations and plays a crucial role in a multitude of equilibrium and non-equilibrium sum rules.
Abstract We consider the spatial quantum and thermal fluctuations of non-interacting Fermi gases of N particles confined in d -dimensional non-smooth potentials. We first present a thorough study of the spherically symmetric pure hard-box potential, with vanishing potential inside the box, both at T = 0 and T > 0. We find that the correlations near the wall are described by a ‘hard edge’ kernel, which depend both on d and T , and which is different from the ‘soft edge’ Airy kernel, and its higher d generalizations, found for smooth potentials. We extend these results to the case where the potential is non-uniform inside the box, and find that there exists a family of kernels which interpolate between the above ‘hard edge’ kernel and the ‘soft edge’ kernels. Finally, we consider one-dimensional singular potentials of the form with . We show that the correlations close to the singularity at x = 0 are described by this ‘hard edge’ kernel for while they are described by a broader family of ‘hard edge’ kernels known as the Bessel kernel for and, finally by the Airy kernel for . These one-dimensional kernels also appear in random matrix theory, and we provide here the mapping between the 1 d fermion models and the corresponding random matrix ensembles. Part of these results were announced in a recent letter, Lacroix-A-Chez-Toine et al (2017 Europhys. Lett . 120 10006).
Abstract Motivated by the realization of hard-wall boundary conditions in experiments with ultracold atoms, we investigate the ground-state properties of spin-1/2 fermions with attractive interactions in a one-dimensional box. We use lattice Monte Carlo methods to determine essential quantities like the energy, which we compute as a function of coupling strength and particle number in the regime from few to many particles. Many-fermion systems bound by hard walls display non-trivial density profiles characterized by so-called Friedel oscillations (which are similar to those observed in harmonic traps). In non-interacting systems, the characteristic length scale of the oscillations is set by ( 2 k F ) − 1 , where k F is the Fermi momentum, while repulsive interactions tend to generate Wigner-crystal oscillations of period ( 4 k F ) − 1 . Based on the non-interacting result, we find a remarkably simple parametrization of the density profiles of the attractively interacting case, which we generalize to the one-body density matrix. While the total momentum is not a conserved quantity in the presence of hard walls, the magnitude of the momentum does provide a good quantum number. We are therefore able to provide a detailed characterization of the (quasi-)momentum distribution, which displays rather robust discontinuity at the Fermi surface. In addition, we determine the spatially varying on-site density–density correlation, which in turn yields Tan’s contact density and, upon integration, Tan’s contact. As is well known, the latter fully determines the short-range correlations and plays a crucial role in a multitude of equilibrium and non-equilibrium sum rules.
In the first part of the article, we study one-dimensional noninteracting fermions in the continuum and in the presence of the repulsive inverse power law potential, with an emphasis on the Wigner function in the semiclassical limit. In this limit, the Wigner function exhibits an edge called the Fermi surf that depends only on the classical one-particle Hamiltonian. Around the Fermi surf, under a well-defined semiclassical limit, the Wigner function can be expressed in terms of Airy functions which yield a smooth matching between the two regions delimited by the Fermi surf. In the second part of the article, the system is prepared in the ground state of the inverse power law potential where only the left half line is filled with fermions. Then the potential is switched off, resulting in the emergence of a propagating quantum front. We show that the power law decay of the pre-quench potential that separates the left and right half systems leads to the emergence of the Airy kernel (well known in Random Matrix Theory) at the quantum front in the long-time limit. This also comes with anomalous diffusive spreading around the front.