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arXiv:2110.01636 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Quantum quenches in an interacting field theory: Full quantum evolution versus semiclassical approximations

D. Szász-Schagrin, Izabella Lovas, G. Takács

Published Jan 10, 2022• 15 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We develop a truncated Hamiltonian method to investigate the dynamics of the $(1+1)$-dimensional ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{4}$ theory following quantum quenches. The results are compared to two different semiclassical approaches, the self-consistent Gaussian approximation and the truncated Wigner approximation, and used to determine the range of validity of these widely used approaches. We show that the self-consistent approximation is strongly limited in comparison to the truncated Hamiltonian method which for larger cutoffs is practically exact for the parameter range studied. We find that the self-consistent approximation is only valid when the effective mass is in the vicinity of the renormalized mass. Similarly to the self-consistent approximation, the truncated Wigner approximation (TWA) is not able to capture the correct mass renormalization, and breaks down for strong enough interactions where the bare mass becomes negative. We attribute the failure of TWA to the presence of a classical symmetry-broken fixed point. Aside from establishing the truncated Hamiltonian approach as a powerful tool for studying the dynamics of the ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{4}$ model, our results on the limitation of semiclassical approximations are expected to be relevant for modeling the dynamics of other quantum field theories.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.105.014305

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Using the truncated Wigner approximation (TWA) we study quench dynamics of two-dimensional lattice systems consisting of interacting spinless fermions with potential disorder. First, we demonstrate that the semiclassical dynamics generally relaxes faster than the full quantum dynamics. We obtain this result by comparing the semiclassical dynamics with exact diagonalization and Lanczos propagation of one-dimensional chains. Next, exploiting the TWA capabilities of simulating large lattices, we investigate how the relaxation rates depend on the dimensionality of the studied system. We show that strongly disordered one-dimensional and two-dimensional systems exhibit a transient, logarithmic-in-time relaxation, which was recently established for one-dimensional chains. Such relaxation corresponds to the infamous 1/f1/f1/f noise at strong disorder.
Quench dynamics in a two-dimensional system of interacting fermions is analyzed within the semiclassical truncated Wigner approximation (TWA). The models with short-range and long-range interactions are considered. We show that in the latter case, the TWA is very accurate, becoming asymptotically exact in the infinite-range limit, provided that the semiclassical Hamiltonian is correctly identified. Within the TWA, different dynamical timescales of charges and spins can be clearly distinguished. Interestingly, for a weak and moderate disorder strength, we observe subdiffusive behavior of charges, while spins exhibit diffusive dynamics. At strong disorder, the quantum Fisher information shows logarithmic growth in time with a slower increase for charges than for spins. It is shown that in contrast to the short-range model, strong inhomogeneities such as domain walls in the initial state can significantly slow down thermalization dynamics, especially at weak disorder. This behavior can put additional challenges in designing cold-atom experimental protocols aimed to analyze possible many-body localization in such systems. While within this approach we cannot make any definite statements about the existence of a many-body localized phase, we see a very fast crossover as a function of disorder strength from rapidly thermalizing to a slow glassylike regime both for the short-range and long-range models.
Abstract The semi-classical discrete truncated Wigner approximation has recently been proposed as a simulation method for spin-1/2 systems. While it appears to provide a powerful approach which shows promising results in higher dimensions and for systems with long-range interactions, its performance is still not well understood in general. Here we perform a systematic benchmarking on the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model and point to limitations of the approximation arising after sudden quenches into the quantum critical regime. Our procedure allows to identify the limitations of the semi-classical simulations and with that to determine the regimes and questions where quantum simulators can provide information which is inaccessible to semi-classics.
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