English

Bound on Eigenstate Thermalization from Transport

Statistical Mechanics 2022-11-01 v2 Quantum Gases Strongly Correlated Electrons High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics

Abstract

We show that macroscopic thermalization and transport impose constraints on matrix elements entering the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH) ansatz and require them to be correlated. It is often assumed that the ETH reduces to Random Matrix Theory (RMT) below the Thouless energy scale. We show this conventional picture is not self-consistent. We prove that energy scale at which the RMT behavior emerges has to be parametrically smaller than the inverse timescale of the slowest thermalization mode coupled to the operator of interest. We argue that the timescale marking the onset of the RMT behavior is the same timescale at which hydrodynamic description of transport breaks down.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1804.08626,
  title  = {Bound on Eigenstate Thermalization from Transport},
  author = {Anatoly Dymarsky},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.08626},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

v2 journal version, presentation improved, interpretation of T_{RMT} added

R2 v1 2026-06-23T01:32:58.576Z