English

Quantum Quench from a Thermal Initial State

Statistical Mechanics 2009-07-30 v2 Quantum Physics

Abstract

We consider a quantum quench in a system of free bosons, starting from a thermal initial state. As in the case where the system is initially in the ground state, any finite subsystem eventually reaches a stationary thermal state with a momentum-dependent effective temperature. We find that this can, in some cases, even be lower than the initial temperature. We also study lattice effects and discuss more general types of quenches.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0903.0895,
  title  = {Quantum Quench from a Thermal Initial State},
  author = {Spyros Sotiriadis and Pasquale Calabrese and John Cardy},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0903.0895},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

6 pages, 2 figures; short published version, added references, minor changes

R2 v1 2026-06-21T12:18:31.128Z