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Universal Prethermalization in Interacting Bose-Fermi Degenerate Systems

Revista, Zen, PHYSICS, 10

Published Nov 28, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper explores the phenomenon of universal prethermalization in out-of-equilibrium interacting Bose-Fermi degenerate systems. Prethermalization, a transient non-equilibrium state characterized by a quasi-stationary distribution that is thermal with respect to a restricted set of effective conserved quantities, has emerged as a fundamental concept in the understanding of isolated quantum many-body systems far from equilibrium. We specifically focus on the unique interplay between bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom, which introduces novel pathways for relaxation and distinct characteristics of prethermal plateaus. The universality of prethermal dynamics, implying independence from microscopic details and initial conditions within certain regimes, is investigated in the context of interspecies interactions, density imbalances, and dimensionality. We review the theoretical frameworks, including mean-field descriptions, effective Hamiltonians, and kinetic equations, alongside experimental observations in ultracold atomic gases that provide a fertile ground for studying such non-equilibrium phenomena. The emergence of universal scaling laws and the role of conservation laws in defining the prethermal state are discussed, paving the way for a deeper understanding of thermalization processes and the persistence of non-equilibrium states in complex quantum matter.

DOI
10.5281/zenodo.17752360

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Abstract We review the recent progress in the understanding of the relaxation of isolated near-integrable quantum many-body systems. Focusing on prethermalization and universal dynamics following a quench, we describe the experiments with ultracold atomic gases that illustrate these phenomena and summarize the essential theoretical concepts employed to interpret them. Our discussion highlights the key topics that link the different approaches to this interdisciplinary field, including the generalized Gibbs ensemble, non-thermal fixed points, critical slowing and universal scaling. Finally, we point to new experimental challenges demonstrating these fundamental features of many-body quantum systems out of equilibrium.
Non-equilibrium dynamics of isolated quantum many-body systems play an important role in many areas of physics. However, a general answer to the question of how these systems relax is still lacking. We experimentally study the dynamics of ultracold one-dimensional (1D) Bose gases. This reveals the existence of a quasi-steady prethermalized state which differs significantly from the thermal equilibrium of the system. Our results demonstrate that the dynamics of non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems is a far richer process than has been assumed in the past.
Although statistical mechanics describes thermal equilibrium states, these states may or may not emerge dynamically for a subsystem of an isolated quantum many-body system. For instance, quantum systems that are near-integrable usually fail to thermalize in an experimentally realistic time scale, and instead relax to quasi-stationary prethermal states that can be described by statistical mechanics, when approximately conserved quantities are included in a generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE). We experimentally study the relaxation dynamics of a chain of up to 22 spins evolving under a long-range transverse-field Ising Hamiltonian following a sudden quench. For sufficiently long-range interactions, the system relaxes to a new type of prethermal state that retains a strong memory of the initial conditions. However, the prethermal state in this case cannot be described by a standard GGE; it rather arises from an emergent double-well potential felt by the spin excitations. This result shows that prethermalization occurs in a broader context than previously thought, and reveals new challenges for a generic understanding of the thermalization of quantum systems, particularly in the presence of long-range interactions.
Abstract. We detail the experimental observation of the non-equilibrium many-body phenomenon prethermalization. We study the dynamics of a rapidly and coherently split one-dimensional Bose gas. An analysis based on the use of full quantum mechanical probability distributions of matter wave interference contrast reveals that the system evolves towards a quasi-steady state. This state, which can be characterized by an effective temperature, is not the final thermal equilibrium state. We compare the evolution of the system to an integrable Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid model, and show that the system dephases to a prethermalized state rather than undergoing thermalization towards a final thermal equilibrium state.
We detail the experimental observation of the non-equilibrium many-body phenomenon prethermalization.We study the dynamics of a rapidly and coherently split one-dimensional Bose gas.An analysis based on the use of full quantum mechanical probability distributions of matter wave interference contrast reveals that the system evolves toward a quasi-steady state.This state, which can be characterized by an effective temperature, is not the final thermal equilibrium state.We compare the evolution of the system to an integrable Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid model, and show that the system dephases to a prethermalized state rather than undergoing thermalization toward a final thermal equilibrium state.
We study the quench of a degenerate ultracold Bose gas to the unitary regime, where interactions are as strong as allowed by quantum mechanics. We lay the foundation of a cumulant theory able to simultaneously capture the three-body Efimov effect and ergodic evolution. After an initial period of rapid quantum depletion, a universal prethermal stage is established, characterized by a kinetic temperature and an emergent Bogoliubov dispersion law, while the microscopic degrees of freedom remain far from equilibrium. Integrability is then broken by higher-order interaction terms in the many-body Hamiltonian, leading to a momentum-dependent departure from power law to decaying exponential behavior of the occupation numbers at large momentum. We also find signatures of the Efimov effect in the many-body dynamics and make a precise identification between the observed beating phenomenon and the binding energy of an Efimov trimer. Throughout the paper, our predictions for a uniform gas are quantitatively compared with experimental results for quenched unitary Bose gases in uniform potentials.