Related papers: Equidistant quenches in few-level quantum systems
We uncover an unforeseen asymmetry in relaxation -- for a pair of thermodynamically equidistant temperature quenches, one from a lower and the other from a higher temperature, the relaxation at the ambient temperature is faster in case of…
We provide an overview of our numerical and analytical studies of isolated interacting quantum systems that are quenched out of equilibrium instantaneously. We describe the relaxation process to a new equilibrium and obtain lower bounds for…
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…
We algebraically prove the asymmetry in thermal relaxation in phase space in the entire range from overdamped dynamics to underdamped dynamics. We show that for the same setup as for overdamped dynamics, even in the more general case of…
Two identical finite quantum systems prepared initially at different temperatures, isolated from the environment, and subsequently brought into contact are demonstrated to relax towards Gibbs-like quasi-equilibrium states with a common…
An asymmetry in thermal relaxation toward equilibrium has been uncovered for Langevin systems near stable minima [Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 110602 (2020)]. It has been shown that, given the same degree of nonequilibrium of the initial…
According to conventional wisdom, a system placed in an environment with a different temperature tends to relax to the temperature of the latter, mediated by the flows of heat and/or matter that are set solely by the temperature difference.…
We study properties of isolated integrable quantum systems after a sudden quench starting from thermal states. We show that, even if the system is initially in thermal equilibrium at finite temperature, the diagonal entropy after a quench…
Equilibrium properties of many-body systems with a large number of degrees of freedom are generally expected to be described by statistical mechanics. Such expectations are closely tied to the observation of thermalization, as manifested…
An intriguing phenomenon in non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics is the asymmetry of thermal processes. Relaxation to thermal equilibrium is the most important dissipative process, being a key concept for the design of heat engines and…
In the setup of isolated quantum systems, it is proved that the thermodynamic entropy and the diagonal entropy must increase extensively in any nontrivial quantum quench. The extensive increase of the thermodynamic entropy is shown for any…
We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of two tunnel-coupled one-dimensional quasicondensates following a quench of the coupling strength from zero to a fixed finite value. More specifically, starting from two independent quasicondensates in…
We discuss how the thermalization of an elementary quantum system is modified when the system is placed in an environment out of thermal equilibrium. To this aim we provide a detailed investigation of the dynamics of an atomic system placed…
We reveal several distinct regimes of the relaxation dynamics of a small quantum system coupled to an environment within the plane of the dissipation strength and the reservoir temperature. This is achieved by discriminating between…
Quantum phase transitions are central to our understanding of why matter at very low temperatures can exhibit starkly different properties upon small changes of microscopic parameters. Accurately locating those transitions is challenging…
This colloquium gives an overview of recent theoretical and experimental progress in the area of nonequilibrium dynamics of isolated quantum systems. We particularly focus on quantum quenches: the temporal evolution following a sudden or…
Isolated quantum systems typically approach thermal equilibrium as described by the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH). Going beyond this involves either higher order correlators (full thermalization) or the formation of state…
The problem of mutual equilibration between two finite, identical quantum systems, A and B, prepared initially at different temperatures is elucidated. We show that the process of energy exchange between the two systems leads to accurate…
We employ holographic techniques to study quantum quenches at finite temperature, where the quenches involve varying the coupling of the boundary theory to a relevant operator with an arbitrary conformal dimension $2\leq\D\leq4$. The…
We consider a two-level quantum system prepared in an arbitrary initial state and relaxing to a steady state due to the action of a Markovian dissipative channel. We study how optimal control can be used for speeding up or slowing down the…