We study a distribution of thermal states given by random Hamiltonians with a local structure. We show that the ensemble of thermal states monotonically approaches the unitarily invariant ensemble with decreasing temperature if all particles interact according to a single random interaction and achieves a state $t$-design at temperature $O(1/\log(t))$. For the system where the random interactions are local, we show that the ensemble achieves a state $1$-design. We then provide numerical evidence indicating that the ensemble undergoes a phase transition at finite temperature.
Thermodynamics of quantum systems and quantum thermal machines are rapidly developing fields, which have already delivered several promising results, as well as raised many intriguing questions. Many-body quantum machines present new opportunities stemming from many-body effects. At the same time, they pose new challenges related to many-body physics. In this short review we discuss some of the recent developments on technologies based on many-body quantum systems. We mainly focus on many-body effects in quantum thermal machines. We also briefly address the role played by many-body systems in …
We develop a scheme for engineering genuine thermal states in analog quantum simulation platforms by coupling local degrees of freedom to driven, dissipative ancilla pseudospins. We demonstrate the scheme in a many-body quantum spin lattice simulation setting. A Born-Markov master equation describing the dynamics of the many-body system is developed, and we show that if the ancilla energies are periodically modulated, with a carefully chosen hierarchy of timescales, one can effectively thermalize the many-body system. Through analysis of the time-dependent dynamical generator, we determine the…
The recent discovery of quantum many-body scar states has revealed the possibility of having states with low entanglement that violate the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in nonintegrable systems. Such states with low entanglement entropy are rare but naturally exist in the integrable system of free fermions. Here, we demonstrate analytically that these atypical states would be always eliminated when an arbitrary weak interaction is introduced between the fermions. In particular, we show that the probability of having a many-body scar state with entanglement entropy satisfying a sub-volum…
We investigate the relaxation dynamics of open non-integrable quantum many-body systems in the thermodynamic limit by using a tensor-network formalism. We simulate the Lindblad quantum master equation (LQME) of infinite systems by making use of the uniform matrix product operators (MPO) as the ansatz of their density matrices. Furthermore, we establish a method to measure the thermodynamic equivalence between two states described by the uniform MPOs. We numerically show that when an initial state of the LQME is a thermal Gibbs state, a time evolved state is always indistinguishable from a Gibb…
Deriving conditions under which a macroscopic system thermalizes directly from the underlying quantum many-body dynamics of its microscopic constituents is a long-standing challenge in theoretical physics. The well-known eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) is presumed to be a key mechanism, but has defied rigorous verification for generic systems thus far. A weaker variant (weak ETH), by contrast, is provably true for a large variety of systems, including even many integrable models, but its implications with respect to the problem of thermalization are still largely unexplored. Here we…
We study the ergodic side of the many-body localization transition in its standard model, the disordered Heisenberg quantum spin chain. We show that the Thouless energy, extracted from long-range spectral statistics and the power-spectrum of the full momentum distribution fluctuations, is not large enough to guarantee thermalization. We find that both estimates coincide and behave non-monotonically, exhibiting a strong peak at an intermediate value of the disorder. Furthermore, we show that non-thermalizing initial conditions occur well within the ergodic phase with larger probability than exp…
The University of Tokyo（东京大学）；RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute (PRI)（理化学研究所先导研究本部）；RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS)（理化学研究所跨学科理论与数学科学中心）
We explore the origin of the arrow of time in an isolated quantum system described by the Schroedinger equation. We provide an explanation from weak values in the configuration space, which are understood as operational properties obtained in the laboratory following a well-defined protocol. We show that quantum systems satisfying the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis can simultaneously provide thermalized ensemble expectation values and nonthermalized weak values of the momentum, both from the same operational probability distribution. The reason why weak values of the momentum may escape …
Quantum many-body scars in random unitary circuits
Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；Laboratoire de Physique de l’École normale supérieure（巴黎高等师范学院物理实验室）；ENS（巴黎高等师范学院）；Université PSL（巴黎文理研究大学）；Sorbonne Université（索邦大学）；Université Paris Cité（巴黎西岱大学）
Understanding under which conditions physical systems thermalize is a long-standing question in many-body physics. While generic quantum systems thermalize, there are known instances where thermalization is hindered, for example in many-body localized (MBL) systems. Here we introduce a class of stochastic collision models coupling a many-body system out of thermal equilibrium to an external heat bath. We derive upper and lower bounds on the size of the bath required to thermalize the system via such models, under certain assumptions on the Hamiltonian. We use these bounds, expressed in terms o…
We study the prethermalization and thermalization dynamics of local observables in weakly perturbed nonintegrable systems, with Hamiltonians of the form $\hat{H}_0+g\hat{V}$, where $\hat{H}_0$ is nonintegrable and $g\hat{V}$ is a perturbation. We explore the dynamics of far from equilibrium initial states in the thermodynamic limit using a numerical linked cluster expansion (NLCE), and in finite systems with periodic boundaries using exact diagonalization. We argue that generic observables exhibit a two-step relaxation process, with a fast prethermal dynamics followed by a slow thermalizing on…
We address the consequences of invariance properties of the free energy of spatially inhomogeneous quantum many-body systems. We consider a specific position-dependent transformation of the system that consists of a spatial deformation and a corresponding locally resolved change of momenta. This operator transformation is canonical and hence equivalent to a unitary transformation on the underlying Hilbert space of the system. As a consequence, the free energy is an invariant under the transformation. Noether's theorem for invariant variations then allows to derive an exact sum rule, which we s…
The process of thermalization in many-body systems is driven by complex interactions among sub-systems and with the surrounding environment. Here we lay the theoretical foundations for the active control of local thermal states in arbitrary non-reciprocal systems close to their equilibrium state. In particular we describe how to (i) force some part of the system to evolve according to a prescribed law during the relaxation process (i.e. thermal targeting probem), (ii) insulate some elements from the rest of the system or (iii) synchronize their evolution during the relaxation process. We also …
Sufficient disorder is believed to localize static and periodically-driven interacting chains. With quasiperiodic driving by $D$ incommensurate tones, the fate of this many-body localization (MBL) is unknown. We argue that randomly disordered MBL exists for $D=2$, but not for $D\geq 3$. Specifically, a putative two-tone driven MBL chain is neither destabilized by thermal avalanches seeded by rare thermal regions, nor by the proliferation of long-range many-body resonances. For $D\geq 3$, however, sufficiently large thermal regions have continuous local spectra and slowly thermalize the entire …
