Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Entanglement prethermalization (EP) refers to a quasi-stationary nonequilibrium state of a composite system in which each individual subsystem looks thermal but the entire system remains nonthermal due to quantum entanglement between subsystems. We theoretically study the dynamics of EP following a coherent split of a one-dimensional harmonic potential in which two interacting bosons are confined. This problem is equivalent to that of an interaction quench between two harmonic oscillators. We show that this simple model captures the bare essentials of EP; that is, each subsystem relaxes to an approximate thermal equilibrium, whereas the total system remains entangled. We find that a generalized Gibbs ensemble exactly describes the total system if we take into account nonlocal conserved quantities that act nontrivially on both subsystems. In the presence of a symmetry-breaking perturbation, the relaxation dynamics of the system exhibits a quasi-stationary EP plateau and eventually reaches thermal equilibrium. We analytically show that the lifetime of EP is inversely proportional to the magnitude of the perturbation.
Source: Physical review. E
Language: English
Topic: Quantum many-body systems
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1021175238, Study on many-body effects and frustrated magnetic superfluids of multicomponent ultracold atomic gases, Information-theoretic aspects of steady states in isolated quantum systems, エンタングルメントを起源とする準定常状態への緩和現象の解明とその普遍性の探究, Nonequilibrium steady states in periodically driven systems, G5072773197
OpenAlex ID: W2567553731