Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Equilibration towards generalized Gibbs ensembles in non-interacting theories

  Marek Gluza, Jens Eisert, Terry Farrelly

  SciPost Phys. 7, 038 (2019) · published 26 September 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Even after almost a century, the foundations of quantum statistical mechanics are still not completely understood. In this work, we provide a precise account on these foundations for a class of systems of paradigmatic importance that appear frequently as mean-field models in condensed matter physics, namely non-interacting lattice models of fermions (with straightforward extension to bosons). We demonstrate that already the translation invariance of the Hamiltonian governing the dynamics and a finite correlation length of the possibly non-Gaussian initial state provide sufficient structure to make mathematically precise statements about the equilibration of the system towards a generalized Gibbs ensemble, even for highly non-translation invariant initial states far from ground states of non-interacting models. Whenever these are given, the system will equilibrate rapidly according to a power-law in time as long as there are no long-wavelength dislocations in the initial second moments that would render the system resilient to relaxation. Our proof technique is rooted in the machinery of Kusmin-Landau bounds. Subsequently, we numerically illustrate our analytical findings by discussing quench scenarios with an initial state corresponding to an Anderson insulator observing power-law equilibration. We discuss the implications of the results for the understanding of current quantum simulators, both in how one can understand the behaviour of equilibration in time, as well as concerning perspectives for realizing distinct instances of generalized Gibbs ensembles in optical lattice-based architectures.

  30 citations

• The equilibrium landscape of the Heisenberg spin chain

  Enej Ilievski, Eoin Quinn

  SciPost Phys. 7, 033 (2019) · published 13 September 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We characterise the equilibrium landscape, the entire manifold of local equilibrium states, of an interacting integrable quantum model. Focusing on the isotropic Heisenberg spin chain, we describe in full generality two complementary frameworks for addressing equilibrium ensembles: the functional integral Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz approach, and the lattice regularisation transfer matrix approach. We demonstrate the equivalence between the two, and in doing so clarify several subtle features of generic equilibrium states. In particular we explain the breakdown of the canonical Y-system, which reflects a hidden structure in the parametrisation of equilibrium ensembles.

  10 citations

• Gauged sigma models and magnetic Skyrmions

  Bernd J Schroers

  SciPost Phys. 7, 030 (2019) · published 10 September 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We define a gauged non-linear sigma model for a 2-sphere valued field and a $SU(2)$ connection on an arbitrary Riemann surface whose energy functional reduces to that for critically coupled magnetic skyrmions in the plane, with arbitrary Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, for a suitably chosen gauge field. We use the interplay of unitary and holomorphic structures to derive a general solution of the first order Bogomol'nyi equation of the model for any given connection. We illustrate this formula with examples, and also point out applications to the study of impurities.

  34 citations

• Anisotropic scaling of the two-dimensional Ising model I: the torus

  Hendrik Hobrecht, Alfred Hucht

  SciPost Phys. 7, 026 (2019) · published 2 September 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present detailed calculations for the partition function and the free energy of the finite two-dimensional square lattice Ising model with periodic and antiperiodic boundary conditions, variable aspect ratio, and anisotropic couplings, as well as for the corresponding universal free energy finite-size scaling functions. Therefore, we review the dimer mapping, as well as the interplay between its topology and the different types of boundary conditions. As a central result, we show how both the finite system as well as the scaling form decay into contributions for the bulk, a characteristic finite-size part, and - if present - the surface tension, which emerges due to at least one antiperiodic boundary in the system. For the scaling limit we extend the proper finite-size scaling theory to the anisotropic case and show how this anisotropy can be absorbed into suitable scaling variables.

  11 citations

• Open XXZ chain and boundary modes at zero temperature

  Sebastian Grijalva, Jacopo De Nardis, Veronique Terras

  SciPost Phys. 7, 023 (2019) · published 20 August 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the open XXZ spin chain in the anti-ferromagnetic regime and for generic longitudinal magnetic fields at the two boundaries. We discuss the ground state via the Bethe ansatz and we show that, for a chain of even length L and in a regime where both boundary magnetic fields are equal and bounded by a critical field, the spectrum is gapped and the ground state is doubly degenerate up to exponentially small corrections in L. We connect this degeneracy to the presence of a boundary root, namely an excitation localized at one of the two boundaries. We compute the local magnetization at the left edge of the chain and we show that, due to the existence of a boundary root, this depends also on the value of the field at the opposite edge, even in the half-infinite chain limit. Moreover we give an exact expression for the large time limit of the spin autocorrelation at the boundary, which we explicitly compute in terms of the form factor between the two quasi-degenerate ground states. This, as we show, turns out to be equal to the contribution of the boundary root to the local magnetization. We finally discuss the case of chains of odd length.

  16 citations

• Hyperbolic nodal band structures and knot invariants

  Marcus Stålhammar, Lukas Rødland, Gregory Arone, Jan Carl Budich, Emil J. Bergholtz

  SciPost Phys. 7, 019 (2019) · published 8 August 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We extend the list of known band structure topologies to include a large family of hyperbolic nodal links and knots, occurring both in conventional Hermitian systems where their stability relies on discrete symmetries, and in the dissipative non-Hermitian realm where the knotted nodal lines are generic and thus stable towards any small perturbation. We show that these nodal structures, taking the forms of Turk's head knots, appear in both continuum- and lattice models with relatively short-ranged hopping that is within experimental reach. To determine the topology of the nodal structures, we devise an efficient algorithm for computing the Alexander polynomial, linking numbers and higher order Milnor invariants based on an approximate and well controlled parameterisation of the knot.

  21 citations

• Superconvergence of topological entropy in the symbolic dynamics of substitution sequences

  Leon Zaporski, Felix Flicker

  SciPost Phys. 7, 018 (2019) · published 7 August 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider infinite sequences of superstable orbits (cascades) generated by systematic substitutions of letters in the symbolic dynamics of one-dimensional nonlinear systems in the logistic map universality class. We identify the conditions under which the topological entropy of successive words converges as a double exponential onto the accumulation point, and find the convergence rates analytically for selected cascades. Numerical tests of the convergence of the control parameter reveal a tendency to quantitatively universal double-exponential convergence. Taking a specific physical example, we consider cascades of stable orbits described by symbolic sequences with the symmetries of quasilattices. We show that all quasilattices can be realised as stable trajectories in nonlinear dynamical systems, extending previous results in which two were identified.

  2 citations

• Density-operator evolution: Complete positivity and the Keldysh real-time expansion

  Viktor Reimer, Maarten Rolf Wegewijs

  SciPost Phys. 7, 012 (2019) · published 25 July 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the reduced time-evolution of open quantum systems by combining quantum-information and statistical field theory. Inspired by prior work [EPL 102, 60001 (2013) and Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 050402 (2013)] we establish the explicit structure guaranteeing the complete positivity (CP) and trace-preservation (TP) of the real-time evolution expansion in terms of the microscopic system-environment coupling. This reveals a fundamental two-stage structure of the coupling expansion: Whereas the first stage defines the dissipative timescales of the system --before having integrated out the environment completely-- the second stage sums up elementary physical processes described by CP superoperators. This allows us to establish the nontrivial relation between the (Nakajima-Zwanzig) memory-kernel superoperator for the density operator and novel memory-kernel operators that generate the Kraus operators of an operator-sum. Importantly, this operational approach can be implemented in the existing Keldysh real-time technique and allows approximations for general time-nonlocal quantum master equations to be systematically compared and developed while keeping the CP and TP structure explicit. Our considerations build on the result that a Kraus operator for a physical measurement process on the environment can be obtained by 'cutting' a group of Keldysh real-time diagrams 'in half'. This naturally leads to Kraus operators lifted to the system plus environment which have a diagrammatic expansion in terms of time-nonlocal memory-kernel operators. These lifted Kraus operators obey coupled time-evolution equations which constitute an unraveling of the original Schr\"odinger equation for system plus environment. Whereas both equations lead to the same reduced dynamics, only the former explicitly encodes the operator-sum structure of the coupling expansion.

  11 citations

• Quantum walks on graphs of the ordered Hamming scheme and spin networks

  Hiroshi Miki, Satoshi Tsujimoto, Luc Vinet

  SciPost Phys. 7, 001 (2019) · published 2 July 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  It is shown that the hopping of a single excitation on certain triangular spin lattices with non-uniform couplings and local magnetic fields can be described as the projections of quantum walks on graphs of the ordered Hamming scheme of depth 2. For some values of the parameters the models exhibit perfect state transfer between two summits of the lattice. Fractional revival is also observed in some instances. The bivariate Krawtchouk polynomials of the Tratnik type that form the eigenvalue matrices of the ordered Hamming scheme of depth 2 give the overlaps between the energy eigenstates and the occupational basis vectors.

  3 citations

• Thermodynamic limit of the two-spinon form factors for the zero field XXX chain

  Nikolai Kitanine, Giridhar Kulkarni

  SciPost Phys. 6, 076 (2019) · published 25 June 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this paper we propose a method based on the algebraic Bethe ansatz leading to explicit results for the form factors of quantum spin chains in the thermodynamic limit. Starting from the determinant representations we retrieve in particular the formula for the two-spinon form factors for the isotropic XXX Heisenberg chain obtained initially in the framework of the $q$-vertex operator approach.

  4 citations