No Arabic abstract
In the majority of the analytical verifications of the conjecture that the Generalised Gibbs Ensemble describes the large time asymptotics of local observables in quantum quench problems, both the post-quench and the pre-quench Hamiltonians are essentially noninteracting. We test this conjecture studying the field correlations in the more general case of an arbitrary pre-quench Hamiltonian, while keeping the post-quench one noninteracting. We first show that in the previously studied special case of a noninteracting pre-quench Hamiltonian, the validity of the conjecture is a consequence of Wicks theorem. We then show that it is also valid in the general case of an arbitrary interacting pre-quench Hamiltonian, but this time as a consequence of the cluster decomposition property of the initial state, which is a fundamental principle for generic physical states. For arbitrary initial states that do not satisfy the cluster decomposition property, the above conjecture is not generally true. As a byproduct of our investigation we obtain an analytical derivation of earlier numerical results for the large time evolution of correlations after a quantum quench of the interaction in the Lieb-Liniger model from a nonzero value to zero.
Ground states of interacting QFTs are non-gaussian states, i.e. their connected n-point correlation functions do not vanish for n>2, in contrast to the free QFT case. We show that when the ground state of an interacting QFT evolves under a free massive QFT for a long time (a scenario that can be realised by a Quantum Quench), the connected correlation functions decay and all local physical observables equilibrate to values that are given by a gaussian density matrix that keeps memory only of the two-point initial correlation function. The argument hinges upon the fundamental physical principle of cluster decomposition, which is valid for the ground state of a general QFT. An analogous result was already known to be valid in the case of d=1 spatial dimensions, where it is a special case of the so-called Generalised Gibbs Ensemble (GGE) hypothesis, and we now generalise it to higher dimensions. Moreover in the case of massless free evolution, despite the fact that the evolution may not lead to equilibration but unbounded increase of correlations with time instead, the GGE gives correctly the leading order asymptotic behaviour of correlation functions in the thermodynamic and large time limit. The demonstration is performed in the context of bosonic relativistic QFT, but the arguments apply more generally.
We study in general the time-evolution of correlation functions in a extended quantum system after the quench of a parameter in the hamiltonian. We show that correlation functions in d dimensions can be extracted using methods of boundary critical phenomena in d+1 dimensions. For d=1 this allows to use the powerful tools of conformal field theory in the case of critical evolution. Several results are obtained in generic dimension in the gaussian (mean-field) approximation. These predictions are checked against the real-time evolution of some solvable models that allows also to understand which features are valid beyond the critical evolution. All our findings may be explained in terms of a picture generally valid, whereby quasiparticles, entangled over regions of the order of the correlation length in the initial state, then propagate with a finite speed through the system. Furthermore we show that the long-time results can be interpreted in terms of a generalized Gibbs ensemble. We discuss some open questions and possible future developments.
We describe several results concerning global quantum quenches from states with short-range correlations to quantum critical points whose low-energy properties are described by a 1+1-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT), extending the work of Calabrese and Cardy (2006): (a) for the special class of initial states discussed in that paper we show that, once a finite region falls inside the horizon, its reduced density matrix is exponentially close in $L_2$ norm to that of a thermal Gibbs state; (b) small deformations of this initial state in general lead to a (non-Abelian) generalized Gibbs distribution (GGE) with, however, the possibility of parafermionic conserved charges; (c) small deformations of the CFT, corresponding to curvature of the dispersion relation and (non-integrable) left-right scattering, lead to a dependence of the speed of propagation on the initial state, as well as diffusive broadening of the horizon.
We present a numerical computation of overlaps in mass quenches in sine-Gordon quantum field theory using truncated conformal space approach (TCSA). To improve the cut-off dependence of the method, we use a novel running coupling definition which has a general applicability in free boson TCSA. The numerical results are used to confirm the validity of a previously proposed analytical Ansatz for the initial state in the sinh-Gordon quench.
We consider the problem of determining the initial state of integrable quantum field theory quenches in terms of the post-quench eigenstates. The corresponding overlaps are a fundamental input to most exact methods to treat integrable quantum quenches. We construct and examine an infinite integral equation hierarchy based on the form factor bootstrap, proposed earlier as a set of conditions deter- mining the overlaps. Using quenches of the mass and interaction in Sinh-Gordon theory as a concrete example, we present theoretical arguments that the state has the squeezed coherent form expected for integrable quenches, and supporting an Ansatz for the solution of the hierarchy. Moreover we also develop an iterative method to solve numerically the lowest equation of the hierarchy. The iterative solution along with extensive numerical checks performed using the next equation of the hierarchy provide a strong numerical evidence that the proposed Ansatz gives a very good approximation for the solution.