1211.4465 (Simone Ziraldo et al.)

Relaxation and Thermalization after a Quantum Quench: Why Localization
is Important    [PDF]

Simone Ziraldo, Giuseppe E. Santoro

We study the unitary dynamics and the thermalization properties of free-fermion-like Hamiltonians after a sudden quantum quench, extending the results of S. Ziraldo et al., arXiv:1206.4787 and PRL (2012). With analytical and numerical arguments, we show that the existence of a stationary state and its description with a generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE) depend crucially on the observable considered (local versus extensive) and on the localization properties of the final Hamiltonian. We present results on two one-dimensional models, the disordered 1D fermionic chain with long-range hopping and the disordered Ising/XY spin chain. We analytically prove that, while time-averages of one-body operators are perfectly reproduced by GGE (even for finite-size systems, if time-integrals are extended beyond revivals), time-averages of many-body operators might show clear deviations from the GGE prediction when disorder-induced localization of the eigenstates is at play.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.4465