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Related papers: Thermalization and its mechanism for generic isola…

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The deterministic and time-reversal symmetric dynamics of isolated quantum systems is at odds with irreversible equilibration observed in generic thermodynamic systems. Standard approaches at a reconciliation employ subjective restrictions…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-07 Aritro Mukherjee

We show that a bounded, isolated quantum system of many particles in a specific initial state will approach thermal equilibrium if the energy eigenfunctions which are superposed to form that state obey {\it Berry's conjecture}. Berry's…

Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-10-22 Mark Srednicki

The dynamics of quantum entanglement plays a central role in explaining the emergence of thermal equilibrium in isolated many-body systems. However, entanglement is notoriously hard to measure. Recent works have introduced a notion of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-03-20 Xiaozhou Feng , Matteo Ippoliti

In the present note, we discuss a simple example of a macroscopic quantum many-body system in which the approach to thermal equilibrium from an arbitrary initial state in the microcanonical energy shell is proved without relying on any…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2024-04-09 Hal Tasaki

The connection between the non-equilibrium dynamics of isolated quantum many-body systems and statistical mechanics is a fundamental open question. It is generally believed that the unitary quantum evolution of a sufficiently complex system…

The circumstances under which a system reaches thermal equilibrium, and how to derive this from basic dynamical laws, has been a major question from the very beginning of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Despite considerable…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2017-08-01 Noah Linden , Sandu Popescu , Anthony J. Short , Andreas Winter

We develop a rigorous system-agnostic method to predict quantum thermalization in an overwhelming fraction of accessible pure states in a many-body system, entirely in terms of certain out-of-time-ordered correlators of few-body…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-06 Amit Vikram

We consider conditions under which an isolated quantum system approaches a microcanonical equilibrium state. A key component is the eigenstate thermalisation hypothesis, which proposes that all energy eigenstates appear thermal. We…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-09-01 Joe Dunlop , Oliver Cohen , Anthony J. Short

Why is thermalisation a universal phenomenon? How does a quantum system reach thermodynamical equilibrium? These questions are not new, dating even from the very birth of quantum theory and have been the subject of a renewed interest over…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-11-05 Grégoire Ithier , Florent Benaych-Georges

Despite being ubiquitous, out-of-equilibrium quantum systems are much less understood than systems at equilibrium. Progress in the field has benefited from a symbiotic relationship between theoretical studies and new experiments on coherent…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2016-11-03 Marco Távora , E. J. Torres-Herrera , Lea F. Santos

We consider the question of thermalization for isolated quantum systems after a sudden parameter change, a so-called quantum quench. In part icular we investigate the pre-requisites for thermalization focusing on the statistical properties…

Quantum Gases · Physics 2011-01-10 G. Biroli , C. Kollath , A. Laeuchli

Unconventional nonequilibrium phases with restricted correlation spreading and slow entanglement growth have been proposed to emerge in systems with confined excitations, calling their thermalization dynamics into question. Here, we show…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2024-10-25 Stefan Birnkammer , Alvise Bastianello , Michael Knap

Explaining quantum many-body dynamics is a long-held goal of physics. A rigorous operator algebraic theory of dynamics in locally interacting systems in any dimension is provided here in terms of time-dependent equilibrium (Gibbs)…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2023-08-08 Berislav Buča

We study the emergence over time of a universal, uniform distribution of quantum states supported on a finite subsystem, induced by projectively measuring the rest of the system. Dubbed deep thermalization, this phenomenon represents a form…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-01-04 Matteo Ippoliti , Wen Wei Ho

Using the ergodicity principle for the expectation values of several types of observables, we investigate the thermalization process in isolated fermionic systems. These are described by the two-body random ensemble, which is a paradigmatic…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-05-27 V. K. B. Kota , A. Relaño , J. Retamosa , Manan Vyas

Prethermalization has been extensively studied in systems close to integrability. We propose a more general, yet conceptually simpler, setup for this phenomenon. We consider a---possibly nonintegrable---reference dynamics, weakly perturbed…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2019-05-13 Krishnanand Mallayya , Marcos Rigol , Wojciech De Roeck

We review recent progress in the nonequilibrium dynamics of thermally isolated many-body quantum systems, evolving with an ensemble of Hamiltonians as opposed to deterministic evolution with a single time-dependent Hamiltonian. Such…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2013-10-07 Armin Rahmani

Statistical mechanics is founded on the assumption that all accessible configurations of a system are equally likely. This requires dynamics that explore all states over time, known as ergodic dynamics. In isolated quantum systems, however,…

Closed quantum many-body systems out of equilibrium pose several long-standing problems in physics. Recent years have seen a tremendous progress in approaching these questions, not least due to experiments with cold atoms and trapped ions…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-09-02 J. Eisert , M. Friesdorf , C. Gogolin

Irreversibility, despite being a necessary condition for thermalization, still lacks a sound understanding in the context of isolated quantum many-body systems. In this work we approach this question by studying the behavior of generic…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-11-14 Markus Schmitt , Stefan Kehrein