Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: We show that the physical mechanism for the equilibration of closed quantum systems is dephasing, and identify the energy scales that determine the equilibration timescale of a given observable. For realistic physical systems (e.g those with local Hamiltonians), our arguments imply timescales that do not increase with the system size, in contrast to previously known upper bounds. In particular we show that, for such Hamiltonians, the matrix representation of local observables in the energy basis is banded, and that this property is crucial in order to derive equilibration times that are non-negligible in macroscopic systems. Finally, we give an intuitive interpretation to recent theorems on equilibration time-scales.
Source: New Journal of Physics
Authors: Thiago R de Oliveira, Christos Charalambous, Daniel Jonathan, Maciej Lewenstein, Arnau Riera
Language: English
Topic: Quantum many-body systems
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,610
Funders: Fundación Cellex, Centres de Recerca de Catalunya, Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, European Commission, Generalitat de Catalunya, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Informação Quântica, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, FP7 Information and Communication Technologies
Awards: G1230659197, G1511318563, G1874999417, Emulators of Quantum Frustrated Magnetism, Quantum simulations of insulators and conductors, G2201813656, G2203972493, G2468274194, G2787289165, G329695232, G3674809337, G3883453253, G4309660370, G4358921014, G4811888002, G4937468798, G5117147876, G5966287635, Simulators and Interfaces with Quantum Systems, G7129249733, G748345579, G8657455129, G8779494491
OpenAlex ID: W2608997982