Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: We use exact diagonalization to study the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) in the quantum dimer model on the square and triangular lattices. Due to the nonergodicity of the local plaquette-flip dynamics, the Hilbert space, which consists of highly constrained close-packed dimer configurations, splits into sectors characterized by topological invariants. We show that this has important consequences for ETH: We find that ETH is clearly satisfied only when each topological sector is treated separately, and only for moderate ratios of the potential and kinetic terms in the Hamiltonian. By contrast, when the spectrum is treated as a whole, ETH breaks down on the square lattice and, apparently, also on the triangular lattice. These results demonstrate that quantum dimer models have interesting thermalization dynamics.
Authors: Zhihao Lan, Stephen Powell
Institution: University of Nottingham
Language: English
Topic: Quantum many-body systems
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2621769970