English

Quantum electrodynamics under a quench

Statistical Mechanics 2023-12-22 v1 Strongly Correlated Electrons Quantum Physics

Abstract

Quantum electrodynamics (QED) is a cornerstone of particle physics and also finds diverse applications in condensed matter systems. Despite its significance, the dynamics of quantum electrodynamics under a quantum quench remains inadequately explored. In this paper, we investigate the nonequilibrium regime of quantum electrodynamics following a global quantum quench. Specifically, a massive Dirac fermion is quenched to a gapless state with an interaction with gauge bosons. In stark contrast to equilibrium (3+1)-dimensional QED with gapless Dirac fermions, where the coupling is marginally irrelevant, we identify a nonequilibrium fixed point characterized by nonFermi liquid behavior. Notably, the anomalous dimension at this fixed point varies with the initial quench parameter, suggesting an interesting quantum memory effect in a strongly interacting system. Additionally, we propose distinctive experimental signatures for nonequilibrium quantum electrodynamics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2312.13531,
  title  = {Quantum electrodynamics under a quench},
  author = {Ming-Rui Li and Shao-Kai Jian},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.13531},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

15 pages, 7 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T13:58:15.977Z