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arXiv:2206.12665 · Physical Review A

Emergence of steady currents due to strong prethermalization

Xiansong Xu, Chu Guo, Dario Poletti

Published Feb 21, 2023• 12 citations
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Abstract

A steady current between baths is a manifestation of the prethermalization phenomenon, a quasiequilibrium dynamic process with weak breaking of conserved quantities. We consider two finite nonintegrable many-body baths, each following the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis and each prepared in a random product state with fixed and different energy constraints, i.e., within the mean energy ensemble. Such an initialization, not being constrained to superpositions or mixtures of many-body eigenstates, opens the door to experimental realization and also significantly simplifies numerical simulations. We show that such a dynamic process is typical as the current variance decreases exponentially with respect to the size of baths. We also demonstrate that the emerging current is prethermalized in a strong sense, analogous to strong thermalization, meaning that the current values stay close to the microcanonical one most of the time.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.107.022220

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A steady current between baths is a manifestation of the prethermalization phenomenon, a quasiequilibrium dynamic process with weak breaking of conserved quantities. We consider two finite nonintegrable many-body baths, each following the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis and each prepared in a random product state with fixed and different energy constraints, i.e., within the mean energy ensemble. Such an initialization, not being constrained to superpositions or mixtures of many-body eigenstates, opens the door to experimental realization and also significantly simplifies numerical simulations. We show that such a dynamic process is typical as the current variance decreases exponentially with respect to the size of baths. We also demonstrate that the emerging current is prethermalized in a strong sense, analogous to strong thermalization, meaning that the current values stay close to the microcanonical one most of the time.
The understanding of the emergence of equilibrium statistical mechanics has progressed significantly thanks to developments from typicality, canonical and dynamical, and from the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. Here we focus on a nonequilibrium scenario in which two nonintegrable systems prepared in different states are locally and nonextensively coupled to each other. Using both perturbative analysis and numerical exact simulations of up to 28 spin systems, we demonstrate the typical emergence of nonequilibrium quasi-steady current for weak coupling between the subsystems. We also identify that these currents originate from a prethermalization mechanism, which is the weak and local breaking of the conservation of the energy for each subsystem.
Nonequilibrium dynamics of a nonintegrable system without the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis is studied. It is shown that, in the thermodynamic limit, this model thermalizes after an arbitrary quantum quench at finite temperature, although it does not satisfy the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. In contrast, when the system size is finite and the temperature is low enough, the system may not thermalize. In this case, the steady state is well described by the generalized Gibbs ensemble constructed by using highly nonlocal conserved quantities. We also show that this model exhibits prethermalization, in which the prethermalized state is characterized by nonthermal energy eigenstates.
Quantum chaos and the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis are based on the assumption of the validity of random matrix theory description on the spectrum and eigenstates. They provide the foundation and descriptions for the typical dynamics and thermalization in generic closed quantum systems. In this thesis, we investigate situations where the systems show atypical dynamics or anomalous thermalization, conflicting with the usual expectations from quantum chaos and eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We first examine weak thermalization in a nonintegrable spin chain. The system shows long-lived strong oscillations and relaxes to the thermal equilibrium weakly. We identify the dynamics describable by quasiparticles and recognize the oscillation frequency to be the quasiparticle mass gap. We also estimate the damping time for the oscillations. Next, we study prethermalization, a phenomenon where a system relaxes to an intermediate almost-equilibrium stage before reaching the true thermal equilibrium. We study a nonintegrable spin chain in the strong coupling limit, where an almost-conserved quantity emerges and gives rise to the prethermalization. We also study a newly proposed diagnostic for quantum chaos: out-of-time-ordered correlators. Contrasting to the chaotic systems, we inspect their behaviors in various noninteracting integrable models. Finally, we dig into the quantum many-body scar states in the PXP model which describes a Rydberg atom chain. These special states do not satisfy the random matrix theory description nor the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, therefore defying quantum chaos.
We consider the set of all initial states within a microcanonical energy shell of an isolated many-body quantum system, which exhibit an arbitrary but fixed nonequilibrium expectation value for some given observable A. On the condition that this set is not too small, it is shown by means of a dynamical typicality approach that most such initial states exhibit thermalization if and only if A satisfies the so-called weak eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (wETH). Here, thermalization means that the expectation value of A spends most of its time close to the microcanonical value after initial transients have died out. The wETH means that, within the energy shell, most eigenstates of the pertinent system Hamiltonian exhibit very similar expectation values of A.
Understanding how closed quantum systems dynamically approach thermal equilibrium presents a major unresolved problem in statistical physics. Generically, non-integrable quantum systems are expected to thermalize as they comply with the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis. However, in the presence of strong disorder, the dynamics can possibly slow down to a degree that systems fail to thermalize on experimentally accessible timescales, as in spin glasses or many-body localized systems. In general, particularly in long-range interacting quantum systems, the specific nature of the disorder necessary for the emergence of a prethermal, metastable state--distinctly separating the timescales of initial relaxation and subsequent slow thermalization--remains an open question. We study an ensemble of Heisenberg spins with a tunable distribution of random coupling strengths realized by a Rydberg quantum simulator. We observe a drastic change in the late-time magnetization when increasing disorder strength. The data is well described by models based on pairs of strongly interacting spins, which are treated as thermal for weak disorder and isolated for strong disorder. Our results indicate a crossover into a pair-localized prethermal regime in a closed quantum system of thousands of spins in the critical case where the exponent of the power law interaction matches the spatial dimension.
The usual paradigm of open quantum systems falls short when the environment is actually coupled to additional fields or components that drive it out of equilibrium. Here we explore the simplest such scenario, by considering a two level system coupled to a first thermal reservoir that in turn couples to a second thermal bath at a different temperature. We derive a master equation description for the system and show that, in this situation, the dynamics can be especially rich. In particular, we observe prethermalization, a transitory phenomenon in which the system initially approaches thermal equilibrium with respect to the first reservoir, but after a longer time converges to the thermal state dictated by the temperature of the second environment. Using analytical arguments and numerical simulations, we analyze the occurrence of this phenomenon, and how it depends on temperatures and coupling strengths. The phenomenology gets even richer if the system is placed between two such non-equilibrium environments. In this case, the energy current through the system may exhibit transient features and even switch direction, before the system eventually reaches a non-equilibrium steady state.