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:2310.19376 · Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

Inhomogeneous quenches as state preparation in two-dimensional conformal field theories

Masahiro Nozaki, Kotaro Tamaoka, Mao Tian Tan

Published Jun 20, 2024• 16 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The nonequilibrium process where the system does not evolve to the featureless state, that without quantum properties, is one of the new central objects in the nonequilibrium phenomena. In this paper, starting from the short-range entangled state in the two-dimensional conformal field theories (2D CFTs), the boundary state with a regularization, we evolve the system with the inhomogeneous Hamiltonians called Möbius/sine-square-deformed (SSD) ones. Regardless of the details of CFTs considered in this paper, during the Möbius evolution, the entanglement entropy exhibits the periodic motion called quantum revival. During SSD time evolution, except for some subsystems, in the large time regime, entanglement entropy and mutual information are approximated by those for the vacuum state. We argue the time regime for the subsystem to cool down to vacuum one is t 1 ≫ O ( L l A ) , where t 1 , L , and l A are time, system, and subsystem sizes. This finding suggests the inhomogeneous quench induced by the SSD Hamiltonian may be used as the preparation for the approximately vacuum state. We propose the gravity dual of the systems considered in this paper, furthermore, and generalize it. In addition to them, we discuss the relation between the inhomogeneous quenches and continuous multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (cMERA). Published by the American Physical Society 2024

DOI
10.1103/physrevd.109.126014

Related papers

Scrambling and recovery of quantum information in inhomogeneous quenches in two-dimensional conformal field theories

Kanato Goto, Masahiro Nozaki A, Shinsei Ryu +2 more

We study various quantum quench processes induced by the Möbius/sine-square deformation of the Hamiltonian in two-dimensional conformal field theories starting from the thermofield double state in the two copies of the Hilbert space. These quantum quenches, some of which are directly related to the operator entanglement of the time-evolution operators, allow us to study scrambling and recovery of quantum information. In particular, under the sine-square deformed time evolution, we show from the time dependence of mutual information that the Bell pairs, initially shared by the subsystems of the two Hilbert spaces, may revive even after the mutual information for small subsystems is completely destroyed by quantum information scrambling dynamics. This mutual information is robust against the strong scrambling dynamics. As a consequence, the steady state has a nonlocal correlation shared not by any of two parties but by three parties. In the holographic dual description, a wormhole connecting the two Hilbert spaces may nonlinearly grow with time during the quantum quenches. We also propose effective pictures that describe the dynamics of mutual information during the time evolution by inhomogeneous Hamiltonians. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

arXiv:2302.08009•Physical Review Research•Apr 1, 2024•28 citations

Non-equilibrating a black hole with inhomogeneous quantum quench

Kanato Goto, Masahiro Nozaki A, Shinsei Ryu +2 more

A bstract We study quantum quench processes in (1+1)-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) in which the initial thermal equilibrium (Gibbs) state is time-evolved by spatially inhomogeneous Hamiltonians, the so-called Möbius and sine-square-deformed (SSD) Hamiltonians. We found that, when the quench is induced by the SSD Hamiltonian, almost all the degrees of freedom are asymptotically gathered at a single point, resulting in a point-like excitation. This excitation, which we dub black hole-like excitation, carries as much information as the total thermal entropy. In contrast, other parts of the system approach the low-entropy (low-temperature) state at late times. For the quench by the Möbius Hamiltonian, we instead found an eternal periodic oscillation of physical quantities such as von Neumann entropy for subsystems. When the CFT admits a holographic dual description, the SSD quench induces a time-dependent, inhomogeneous deformation of the bulk black hole horizon, which, at late enough times, “touches” the boundary. Our quench setups can be used as a way to create low-temperature states, and, also, simulate the formation and evaporation processes of black holes.

arXiv:2112.14388•Journal of High Energy Physics•Aug 25, 2025•9 citations

Entanglement dynamics in 2d HCFTs on the curved background: the case of q-Möbius Hamiltonian

Chen Bai, Akihiro Miyata, Masahiro Nozaki A

A bstract We will explore the dynamical property of non-equilibrium phenomena induced by two-dimensional holographic conformal field theory (2d holographic CFT) Hamiltonian on the curved spacetime by studying the time dependence of the entanglement entropy and mutual information. Here, holographic CFT is the CFT having the gravity dual. We will start from the boundary and thermofield double states, evolve the systems in Euclidean time with the Hamiltonian on the curved background, and then evolve them in real-time with the same Hamiltonian. We found that the early- and late-time entanglement structure depends on the curved background, while the entanglement growth does not, and is linear. Furthermore, in the gravity dual for the thermofield double state, this entanglement growth is due to the linear growth of the wormhole, while in the one for the boundary state, it is due to the in-falling of the end of the world brane to the black hole. We discussed the low temperature system can be regarded as the dynamical system induced by the multi-joining quenches. We also discussed the effective description of the high temperature system, called line tension picture.

arXiv:2408.06594•Journal of High Energy Physics•Dec 27, 2024•10 citations

Inhomogeneous Quantum Quenches of Conformal Field Theory with Boundaries

Xinyu Liu, Alexander McDonald, Tokiro Numasawa +2 more

We develop a method to calculate generic time-dependent correlation functions for inhomogeneous quantum quenches in (1+1)-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) induced by sudden Hamiltonian deformations that modulate the energy density inhomogeneously. Our Letter particularly focuses on the effects of spatial boundaries, which have remained unresolved by previous analytical methods. For generic postquench Hamiltonian, we develop a generic method to calculate the correlations by mirroring the system, which otherwise are Euclidean path integrals in complicated spacetime geometries difficult to calculate. On the other hand, for a special class of inhomogeneous postquench Hamiltonians, including the Möbius and sine-square-deformation Hamiltonians, we show that the quantum quenches exhibit simple boundary effects calculable from Euclidean path integrals in a straightforward strip spacetime geometry. Applying our method to the time evolution of entanglement entropy, we find that, for generic cases, the entanglement entropy shows discontinuities (shockwave fronts) propagating from the boundaries. In contrast, such discontinuities are absent in cases with simple boundary effects. We verify that our generic CFT formula matches well with numerical calculations from free-fermion tight-binding models for various quench scenarios.

arXiv:2309.04540•Physical Review Letters•Jun 5, 2025•5 citations

Quantum dynamics in sine-square deformed conformal field theory: Quench from uniform to nonuniform conformal field theory

Xueda Wen, Jie-qiang Wu

Sine-square deformed conformal field theory has received extensive attention in both condensed matter physics and high-energy physics recently. This is due to its unusual properties, such as having a continuous Virasoro algebra. Here, the authors investigate its nonequilibrium dynamics by studying the entanglement evolution after a quantum quench. New physical effects, such as the absence of revivals in entanglement evolution, are observed in both analytical and numerical calculations. This effect could potentially be used when engineering a gapless system with cold atoms, in order to reduce finite-size effects. The work here also sheds new light on the nonequilibrium dynamics of conformal field theory in curved spacetime.

arXiv:1802.07765•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•May 31, 2018•72 citations

Spatially structured entanglement from nonequilibrium thermal pure states

Chen Bai, Mao Tian Tan, Bastien Lapierre +1 more

We study quantum quench dynamics in (1+1)-dimensional critical systems, starting from thermal pure states called crosscap states, and evolving them under spatially inhomogeneous Hamiltonians. The spatial inhomogeneity is introduced through a deformation of the Hamiltonian, expressed as linear combinations of the generators of the $SL^{(q)}(2,\mathbb{R})$ subalgebra of the Virasoro algebra. We analyze the free massless Dirac fermion theory and holographic conformal field theory as prototypical examples of integrable and non-integrable dynamics. Consistent with general expectations, "Möbius-type" deformations lead to thermalization in the non-integrable case, and to periodic revivals in the integrable one. In contrast, "sine-square-type" and "displacement-type" deformations prevent both thermalization and scrambling, instead producing late-time, graph-like entanglement patterns. These patterns emerge from the interplay between the deformed Hamiltonian and the crosscap initial state and appear to be universal: they are determined solely by the deformation profile while remaining largely insensitive to microscopic details. Finally, we perform a holographic calculation in three-dimensional gravity using AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$, which reproduces the main features of our (1+1)-dimensional study.

arXiv:2510.25868•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jan 27, 2026•1 citation
The nonequilibrium process where the system does not evolve to the featureless state, that without quantum properties, is one of the new central objects in the nonequilibrium phenomena. In this paper, starting from the short-range entangled state in the two-dimensional conformal field theories (2D CFTs), the boundary state with a regularization, we evolve the system with the inhomogeneous Hamiltonians called Möbius/sine-square-deformed (SSD) ones. Regardless of the details of CFTs considered in this paper, during the Möbius evolution, the entanglement entropy exhibits the periodic motion called quantum revival. During SSD time evolution, except for some subsystems, in the large time regime, entanglement entropy and mutual information are approximated by those for the vacuum state. We argue the time regime for the subsystem to cool down to vacuum one is t 1 ≫ O ( L l A ) , where t 1 , L , and l A are time, system, and subsystem sizes. This finding suggests the inhomogeneous quench induced by the SSD Hamiltonian may be used as the preparation for the approximately vacuum state. We propose the gravity dual of the systems considered in this paper, furthermore, and generalize it. In addition to them, we discuss the relation between the inhomogeneous quenches and continuous multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (cMERA). Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We study various quantum quench processes induced by the Möbius/sine-square deformation of the Hamiltonian in two-dimensional conformal field theories starting from the thermofield double state in the two copies of the Hilbert space. These quantum quenches, some of which are directly related to the operator entanglement of the time-evolution operators, allow us to study scrambling and recovery of quantum information. In particular, under the sine-square deformed time evolution, we show from the time dependence of mutual information that the Bell pairs, initially shared by the subsystems of the two Hilbert spaces, may revive even after the mutual information for small subsystems is completely destroyed by quantum information scrambling dynamics. This mutual information is robust against the strong scrambling dynamics. As a consequence, the steady state has a nonlocal correlation shared not by any of two parties but by three parties. In the holographic dual description, a wormhole connecting the two Hilbert spaces may nonlinearly grow with time during the quantum quenches. We also propose effective pictures that describe the dynamics of mutual information during the time evolution by inhomogeneous Hamiltonians. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
A bstract We study quantum quench processes in (1+1)-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) in which the initial thermal equilibrium (Gibbs) state is time-evolved by spatially inhomogeneous Hamiltonians, the so-called Möbius and sine-square-deformed (SSD) Hamiltonians. We found that, when the quench is induced by the SSD Hamiltonian, almost all the degrees of freedom are asymptotically gathered at a single point, resulting in a point-like excitation. This excitation, which we dub black hole-like excitation, carries as much information as the total thermal entropy. In contrast, other parts of the system approach the low-entropy (low-temperature) state at late times. For the quench by the Möbius Hamiltonian, we instead found an eternal periodic oscillation of physical quantities such as von Neumann entropy for subsystems. When the CFT admits a holographic dual description, the SSD quench induces a time-dependent, inhomogeneous deformation of the bulk black hole horizon, which, at late enough times, “touches” the boundary. Our quench setups can be used as a way to create low-temperature states, and, also, simulate the formation and evaporation processes of black holes.
A bstract We will explore the dynamical property of non-equilibrium phenomena induced by two-dimensional holographic conformal field theory (2d holographic CFT) Hamiltonian on the curved spacetime by studying the time dependence of the entanglement entropy and mutual information. Here, holographic CFT is the CFT having the gravity dual. We will start from the boundary and thermofield double states, evolve the systems in Euclidean time with the Hamiltonian on the curved background, and then evolve them in real-time with the same Hamiltonian. We found that the early- and late-time entanglement structure depends on the curved background, while the entanglement growth does not, and is linear. Furthermore, in the gravity dual for the thermofield double state, this entanglement growth is due to the linear growth of the wormhole, while in the one for the boundary state, it is due to the in-falling of the end of the world brane to the black hole. We discussed the low temperature system can be regarded as the dynamical system induced by the multi-joining quenches. We also discussed the effective description of the high temperature system, called line tension picture.
We develop a method to calculate generic time-dependent correlation functions for inhomogeneous quantum quenches in (1+1)-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) induced by sudden Hamiltonian deformations that modulate the energy density inhomogeneously. Our Letter particularly focuses on the effects of spatial boundaries, which have remained unresolved by previous analytical methods. For generic postquench Hamiltonian, we develop a generic method to calculate the correlations by mirroring the system, which otherwise are Euclidean path integrals in complicated spacetime geometries difficult to calculate. On the other hand, for a special class of inhomogeneous postquench Hamiltonians, including the Möbius and sine-square-deformation Hamiltonians, we show that the quantum quenches exhibit simple boundary effects calculable from Euclidean path integrals in a straightforward strip spacetime geometry. Applying our method to the time evolution of entanglement entropy, we find that, for generic cases, the entanglement entropy shows discontinuities (shockwave fronts) propagating from the boundaries. In contrast, such discontinuities are absent in cases with simple boundary effects. We verify that our generic CFT formula matches well with numerical calculations from free-fermion tight-binding models for various quench scenarios.
Sine-square deformed conformal field theory has received extensive attention in both condensed matter physics and high-energy physics recently. This is due to its unusual properties, such as having a continuous Virasoro algebra. Here, the authors investigate its nonequilibrium dynamics by studying the entanglement evolution after a quantum quench. New physical effects, such as the absence of revivals in entanglement evolution, are observed in both analytical and numerical calculations. This effect could potentially be used when engineering a gapless system with cold atoms, in order to reduce finite-size effects. The work here also sheds new light on the nonequilibrium dynamics of conformal field theory in curved spacetime.
We study quantum quench dynamics in (1+1)-dimensional critical systems, starting from thermal pure states called crosscap states, and evolving them under spatially inhomogeneous Hamiltonians. The spatial inhomogeneity is introduced through a deformation of the Hamiltonian, expressed as linear combinations of the generators of the SL(q)(2,R)SL^{(q)}(2,\mathbb{R})SL(q)(2,R) subalgebra of the Virasoro algebra. We analyze the free massless Dirac fermion theory and holographic conformal field theory as prototypical examples of integrable and non-integrable dynamics. Consistent with general expectations, "Möbius-type" deformations lead to thermalization in the non-integrable case, and to periodic revivals in the integrable one. In contrast, "sine-square-type" and "displacement-type" deformations prevent both thermalization and scrambling, instead producing late-time, graph-like entanglement patterns. These patterns emerge from the interplay between the deformed Hamiltonian and the crosscap initial state and appear to be universal: they are determined solely by the deformation profile while remaining largely insensitive to microscopic details. Finally, we perform a holographic calculation in three-dimensional gravity using AdS3_33​/CFT2_22​, which reproduces the main features of our (1+1)-dimensional study.