No Arabic abstract
Motivated by recent experiments, we study the relaxation dynamics and thermalization in the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model induced by a global interaction quench. Specifically, we start from an initial state that has exactly one boson per site and is the ground state of a system with infinitely strong repulsive interactions at unit filling. Using exact diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group method, we compute the time dependence of such observables as the multiple occupancy and the momentum distribution function. Typically, the relaxation to stationary values occurs over just a few tunneling times. The stationary values are identical to the so-called diagonal ensemble on the system sizes accessible to our numerical methods and we further observe that the micro-canonical ensemble describes the steady state of many observables reasonably well for small and intermediate interaction strength. The expectation values of observables in the canonical ensemble agree quantitatively with the time averages obtained from the quench at small interaction strengths, and qualitatively provide a good description of steady-state values even in parameter regimes where the micro-canonical ensemble is not applicable due to finite-size effects. We discuss our numerical results in the framework of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. Moreover, we also observe that the diagonal and the canonical ensemble are practically identical for our initial conditions already on the level of their respective energy distributions for small interaction strengths. Finally, we discuss implications of our results for the interpretation of a recent sudden expansion experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 205301 (2013)], in which the same interaction quench was realized.
By exploring a phase space hydrodynamics description of one-dimensional free Fermi gas, we discuss how systems settle down to steady states described by the generalized Gibbs ensembles through quantum quenches. We investigate time evolutions of the Fermions which are trapped in external potentials or a circle for a variety of initial conditions and quench protocols. We analytically compute local observables such as particle density and show that they always exhibit power law relaxation at late times. We find a simple rule which determines the power law exponent. Our findings are, in principle, observable in experiments in an one dimensional free Fermi gas or Tonks gas (Bose gas with infinite repulsion).
By calculating correlation functions for the Lieb-Liniger model based on the algebraic Bethe ansatz method, we conduct a finite-size scaling analysis of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) which is considered to be a possible mechanism of thermalization in isolated quantum systems. We find that the ETH in the weak sense holds in the thermodynamic limit even for an integrable system although it does not hold in the strong sense. Based on the result of the finite-size scaling analysis, we compare the contribution of the weak ETH to thermalization with that of yet another thermalization mechanism, the typicality, and show that the former gives only a logarithmic correction to the latter.
We consider a quantum quench of the trap frequency in a system of bosons interacting through an inverse-square potential and confined in a harmonic trap (the harmonic Calogero model). We determine exactly the initial state in terms of the post-quench eigenstates and derive the time evolution of simple physical observables. Since this model possesses an infinite set of integrals of motion (IoM) that allow its exact solution, a generalised Gibbs ensemble (GGE), i.e. a statistical ensemble that takes into account the conservation of all IoM, can be proposed in order to describe the values of local physical observables long after the quench. Even though, due to the presence of the trap, physical observables do not exhibit equilibration but periodic evolution, such a GGE may still describe correctly their time averaged values. We check this analytically for the local boson density and find that the GGE conjecture is indeed valid, in the thermodynamic limit.
We numerically investigate 1D Bose-Hubbard chains with onsite disorder by means of exact diagonalization. A primary focus of our work is on characterizing Fock-space localization in this model from the single-particle perspective. For this purpose, we compute the one-particle density matrix (OPDM) in many-body eigenstates. We show that the natural orbitals (the eigenstates of the OPDM) are extended in the ergodic phase and real-space localized when one enters into the MBL phase. Furthermore, the distributions of occupations of the natural orbitals can be used as measures of Fock-space localization in the respective basis. Consistent with previous studies, we observe signatures of a transition from the ergodic to the many-body localized (MBL) regime when increasing the disorder strength. We further demonstrate that Fock-space localization, albeit weaker, is also evidently present in the distribution of the physical densities in the MBL regime, both for soft- and hardcore bosons. Moreover, the full distribution of the densities of the physical particles provides a one-particle measure for the detection of the ergodic-MBL transition which could be directly accessed in experiments with ultra-cold gases.
We compute the phase diagram of the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model with a quasi-periodic potential by means of the density-matrix renormalization group technique. This model describes the physics of cold atoms loaded in an optical lattice in the presence of a superlattice potential whose wave length is incommensurate with the main lattice wave length. After discussing the conditions under which the model can be realized experimentally, the study of the density vs. the chemical potential curves for a non-trapped system unveils the existence of gapped phases at incommensurate densities interpreted as incommensurate charge-density wave phases. Furthermore, a localization transition is known to occur above a critical value of the potential depth V_2 in the case of free and hard-core bosons. We extend these results to soft-core bosons for which the phase diagrams at fixed densities display new features compared with the phase diagrams known for random box distribution disorder. In particular, a direct transition from the superfluid phase to the Mott insulating phase is found at finite V_2. Evidence for reentrances of the superfluid phase upon increasing interactions is presented. We finally comment on different ways to probe the emergent quantum phases and most importantly, the existence of a critical value for the localization transition. The later feature can be investigated by looking at the expansion of the cloud after releasing the trap.