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Physical Review B

Initial stage of quasiparticle decay in fermionic systems

Y. Pavlyukh, Jamal Berakdar, Ángel Rubio

Published Mar 4, 2013• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Generally, the addition or removal of a single particle in a many-body system does not correspond to an exact eigenstate of the system. Thus the resulting coherent excitation evolves in time. As discussed here, the evolution at short times upon the excitation with the energy $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ exhibits a quadratic decay [with the rate constant ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{2}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})$]. Later on, after some time $\ensuremath{\tau}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})$, the exponential decay sets in. It is governed by another rate constant $\ensuremath{\gamma}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})$. This behavior is generic for many realistic finite and extended systems. For a finite system it is possible to assess this behavior full numerically using an exact solution of the many-body problem. We present a simple model for the electron spectral function that links together all three aforementioned parameters and give a prescription for how the energy uncertainty ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{2}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})$ can be computed within the many-body perturbation theory. Our numerical results demonstrate that the model approach accurately reproduces the exact spectral function in a large range of energies even in the case of fragmented many-body states. We show that the central quantity of this study ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{2}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})$ can easily be computed exactly or from approximate theories and, hence, can be used for their validation. We also point out how the set in time can be tested by means of attosecond spectroscopy.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.87.125101

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Generally, the addition or removal of a single particle in a many-body system does not correspond to an exact eigenstate of the system. Thus the resulting coherent excitation evolves in time. As discussed here, the evolution at short times upon the excitation with the energy \ensuremathϵ\ensuremath{\epsilon}\ensuremathϵ exhibits a quadratic decay [with the rate constant \ensuremathσ2(\ensuremathϵ){\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{2}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})\ensuremathσ2(\ensuremathϵ)]. Later on, after some time \ensuremathτ(\ensuremathϵ)\ensuremath{\tau}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})\ensuremathτ(\ensuremathϵ), the exponential decay sets in. It is governed by another rate constant \ensuremathγ(\ensuremathϵ)\ensuremath{\gamma}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})\ensuremathγ(\ensuremathϵ). This behavior is generic for many realistic finite and extended systems. For a finite system it is possible to assess this behavior full numerically using an exact solution of the many-body problem. We present a simple model for the electron spectral function that links together all three aforementioned parameters and give a prescription for how the energy uncertainty \ensuremathσ2(\ensuremathϵ){\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{2}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})\ensuremathσ2(\ensuremathϵ) can be computed within the many-body perturbation theory. Our numerical results demonstrate that the model approach accurately reproduces the exact spectral function in a large range of energies even in the case of fragmented many-body states. We show that the central quantity of this study \ensuremathσ2(\ensuremathϵ){\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{2}(\ensuremath{\epsilon})\ensuremathσ2(\ensuremathϵ) can easily be computed exactly or from approximate theories and, hence, can be used for their validation. We also point out how the set in time can be tested by means of attosecond spectroscopy.
The initial stages of the quasiparticle decay in a Fermi liquid are governed by a time-scale distinct from the scattering rates as derived from the Fermi golden rule approach. We show that the initial decay is nonexponential and that it is determined by the zeroth spectral moment of the electron self-energy. We analyzed numerically a number of approximations for the self-energy by comparing with exact configuration interaction calculations for small finite system with fragmented states. A numerically simple approach for computing the spreading of the quasiparticle states for large systems is devised.
While exponential decay is ubiquitous in nature, deviations at both short and long times are dictated by quantum mechanics. Nonexponential decay is known to arise due to the possibility of reconstructing the initial state from the decaying products. We discuss the quantum decay dynamics by tunneling of a many-particle system, characterizing the long-time nonexponential behavior of the nonescape and survival probabilities. The effects of contact interactions and quantum statistics are described. It is found that, whereas for noninteracting bosons the long-time decay follows a power law with an exponent linear in the number of particles NNN, the exponent becomes quadratic in NNN in the fermionic case. The same results apply to strongly interacting many-body systems related by the generalized Bose-Fermi duality. The faster fermionic decay can be traced back to the effective hard-core interactions between particles, which are as well the decaying products, and exhibit spatial antibunching which hinders the reconstruction of the initial unstable state. The results are illustrated with a paradigmatic model of quantum decay from a trap allowing leaks by tunneling, whose dynamics is described exactly by means of an expansion in resonant states.
The study of the interplay between interaction-induced correlations and nonequilibrium initial conditions in many-body systems has recently attracted a lot of attention. New experimental techniques provide high control over many-body systems and systematic access to their nonequilibrium regime. In many systems the nonequilibrium properties of a Fermi liquid can be relevant. A first approach to their understanding is the main content of this thesis. At the beginning, nonequilibrium phenomena, Landau's theory of a Fermi liquid, the Hubbard model, time evolution in quantum mechanics, related experiments, and the flow equation method are reviewed. The key observation of this thesis, namely a characteristic mismatch of expectation values in equilibrium and nonequilibrium, is first illustrated for the squeezed oscillator. For this one-particle model Hamiltonian the perturbative approach can be compared with the exact solution and it is shown that the mismatch holds even beyond perturbation theory. Afterwards these observations are generalized to a larger class of one-particle models. Then the nonequilibrium behavior of a Fermi liquid is examined by analyzing the Fermi liquid phase of the Hubbard model in more than one dimension. After a sudden switch-on of a weak two-particle interaction to the noninteracting Fermi gas the relaxation of the many-body system is observed. For this purpose, the flow equation transformation is implemented for the Hubbard Hamiltonian. Then the discussion of the momentum distribution function and of the kinetic energy displays a three-step relaxation behavior of the Fermi liquid from the initial perturbation until thermalization is reached. Firstly, the sudden switch inserts excitation energy into the system which drives the following dynamics. Then a rapid initial build-up of correlations is caused by initial dephasing and leads to the establishment of a quasiparticle picture. By that the system enters into a quasi-stationary state which can be long-lasting for weak interaction. This state shows prethermalization of the kinetic energy which already has relaxed to its final values. However, the momentum distribution still resembles a zero temperature Fermi liquid. Its later relaxation on a second time scale is caused by a residual two-particle interaction which allows for scattering processes and can be described by a quantum Boltzmann equation. The physical origin of this delayed relaxation can be traced back to an interplay of translational invariance of the Hubbard model and the Pauli principle for fermions; together they restrict the phase space for scattering events. Comparing with similar work I conjecture on the generic nature of the findings made for the quenched Fermi liquid in other many-body systems. Finally I point out to the potential relevance of the delayed relaxation for the observation of further nonequilibrium phenomena, for instance in BCS systems. In order to extend the study of sudden switching to arbitrary switching processes the calculation is repeated using the Keldysh perturbation theory. First evaluations for a linear increase of the interaction strength are given. Extensions of this work are suggested and may motivate further research.
The Lindblad master equation is widely used to describe the reduced dynamics of open quantum systems under Markovian assumptions. Here, we investigate its ability to reproduce the reduced evolution emerging from a microscopic many-body model in which two interacting two-level subsystems are embedded in a larger environment and evolve under fully unitary dynamics. The exact evolution exhibits a clear separation of timescales. At short times, decoherence arises from environmentally induced dephasing, leading to a Gaussian suppression of coherences and a quadratic decay of purity. At intermediate times, collective decoherence channels saturate and a slower, still Gaussian, decay driven by relative environmental fluctuations dominates. At later times the system settles in a complete decohered state. The first two behaviors cannot be reproduced by a Lindblad dynamics with constant coefficients, which always results in an exponential decay: Our work provides a simple example of the breakdown of the effective description relevant in many realistic settings.
The decay rate of quasiparticles in quantum dots is studied through the real time calculation of the single-particle Green function in the self-consistent approximation. The method avoids exact diagonalization, transforming the problem into a system of coupled non-linear integral equations which may be solved iteratively. That allows us to study systems larger than previously treated in the literature. Our results for the inverse participation ratio of many-body states show that the threshold energy for the quasiparticle disintegration is ${E}^{*}\ensuremath{\sim}\sqrt{g}\ensuremath{\Delta}.$ The delocalization transition is soft rather than sharp. Three different regimes as function of the effective interaction strength may be clearly identified at high energies.
We present results for many-body perturbation theory for the one-body Green's function at finite temperatures using the Matsubara formalism. Our method relies on the accurate representation of the single-particle states in standard Gaussian basis sets, allowing to efficiently compute, among other observables, quasiparticle energies and Dyson orbitals of atoms and molecules. In particular, we challenge the second-order treatment of the Coulomb interaction by benchmarking its accuracy for a well-established test set of small molecules, which includes also systems where the usual Hartree-Fock treatment encounters difficulties. We discuss different schemes how to extract quasiparticle properties and assess their range of applicability. With an accurate solution and compact representation, our method is an ideal starting point to study electron dynamics in time-resolved experiments by the propagation of the Kadanoff-Baym equations.