In weakly perturbed systems that are close to integrability, thermalization can be delayed by the formation of prethermalization plateaus. We study the build-up of density-density correlations after a weak interaction quench in the Hubbard model in $d > 1$ dimensions using unitary perturbation theory. Starting from a pre-quench state at temperature $T$, we show that the prethermalization values of the post-quench correlations are equal to the equilibrium values of the interacting model at the same temperature $T$. This is explained by the local character of density-density correlations.
We consider an open system near a quantum critical point that is suddenly moved towards the critical point. The bath-dominated diffusive non-equilibrium dynamics after the quench is shown to follow scaling behavior, governed by a critical exponent that emerges in addition to the known equilibrium critical exponents. We determine this exponent and show that it describes universal prethermalized coarsening dynamics of the order parameter in an intermediate time regime. Implications of this quantum critical prethermalization are a powerlaw rise of order and correlations after an initial collapse …
We study the properties of Floquet prethermal states in two-dimensional Mott-insulating Hubbard clusters under continuous optical excitation. With exact-diagonalization simulations, we show that Floquet prethermal states emerge not only off resonance, but also for resonant excitation, provided a small field amplitude. In the resonant case, the long-lived quasi-stationary Floquet states are characterized by Rabi oscillations of observables such as double occupation and kinetic energy. At stronger fields, thermalization to infinite temperature is observed. We understand these results in terms of…
We demonstrate the existence of long-lived prethermalized states in the Mott insulating Hubbard model driven by periodic electric fields. These states, which also exist in the resonantly driven case with a large density of photo-induced doublons and holons, are characterized by a nonzero current and an effective temperature of the doublons and holons which depends sensitively on the driving condition. Focusing on the specific case of resonantly driven models whose effective time-independent Hamiltonian in the high-frequency driving limit corresponds to noninteracting fermions, we show that the…
We study prethermalization phenomena in weakly interacting Hubbard systems after electric-field pump pulses with finite duration. We treat the Hubbard interaction up to second order, applying the prethermalization paradigm for time-dependent interaction protocols, and the electric field strength beyond linear order. A scaling behavior with pulse duration is observed for the absorbed energy as well as individual prethermalized momentum occupation numbers, which we attribute to the leading quadratic orders in interaction and electric field. We show that a pronounced non-thermal momentum distribu…
The recent experimental implementation of condensed matter models in optical lattices has motivated research on their nonequilibrium behavior. Predictions on the dynamics of superconductors following a sudden quench of the pairing interaction have been made based on the effective BCS Hamiltonian; however, their experimental verification requires the preparation of a suitable excited state of the Hubbard model along a twofold constraint: (i) a sufficiently nonadiabatic ramping scheme is essential to excite the nonequilibrium dynamics, and (ii) overheating beyond the critical temperature of supe…
We numerically study the dynamics after a parameter quench in the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model with long-range interactions ($\propto 1/r^α$ with distance $r$), for finite chains and also directly in the thermodynamic limit. In nonequilibrium, i.e., before the system settles into a thermal state, we find a long-lived regime that is characterized by a prethermal value of the magnetization, which in general differs from its thermal value. We find that the ferromagnetic phase is stabilized dynamically: as a function of the quench parameter, the prethermal magnetization shows a tra…
Time-periodic driving provides a promising route to engineer non-trivial states in quantum many-body systems. However, while it has been shown that the dynamics of integrable systems can synchronize with the driving into a non-trivial periodic motion, generic non-integrable systems are expected to heat up until they display a trivial infinite-temperature behavior. In this paper we show that a quasi-periodic time evolution over many periods can also emerge in systems with weak integrability breaking, with a clear separation of the timescales for synchronization and the eventual approach of the …
The relaxation of uniform quantum systems with finite-range interactions after a quench is generically driven by the ballistic propagation of long-lived quasi-particle excitations triggered by a sufficiently small quench. Here we investigate the case of long-range ($1/r^α$) interactions for $d$-dimensional lattice spin models with uniaxial symmetry, and show that, in the regime $d < α< d+2$, the entanglement and correlation buildup is radically altered by the existence of a non-linear dispersion relation of quasi-particles, $ω\sim k^{z<1}$, at small wave vectors, leading to a divergence of the…
The generic non-equilibrium evolution of a strongly interacting fermionic system is studied. For strong quenches, a collective collapse-and-revival phenomenon is found extending over the whole Brillouin zone. A qualitatively distinct behavior occurs for weak quenches where only weak wiggling occurs. Surprisingly, no evidence for prethermalization is found in the weak coupling regime. In both regimes, indications for relaxation beyond oscillatory or power law behavior are found and used to estimate relaxation rates without resorting to a probabilistic ansatz. The relaxation appears to be fastes…
We study the quench dynamics of the one-dimensional Hubbard model through the Quench Action formalism. We introduce a class of integrable initial states -- expressed as product states over two sites -- for which we can provide an exact characterisation of the late-time regime. This is achieved by finding a closed-form expression for the overlaps between our states and the Bethe ansatz eigenstates, which we check explicitly in the limits of low densities and infinite repulsion. Our solution gives access to the stationary values attained by local observables (we show the explicit example of the …
We study the crossover between the sudden quench limit and the adiabatic dynamics of superconducting states in the attractive Hubbard model. We focus on the dynamics induced by the change of the attractive interaction during a finite ramp time which is varied in order to track the evolution of the dynamical phase diagram from the sudden quench to the equilibrium limit. Two different dynamical regimes are realized for quenches towards weak and strong coupling interactions. At weak coupling the dynamics depends only on the energy injected into the system, whereas a dynamics retaining memory of t…
We introduce the notion of non-Abelian tensors, and use them to construct a general non-Abelian time evolving block decimation (NA-TEBD) scheme that uses an arbitrary number of Abelian and non-Abelian symmetries. Our approach increases the speed and memory storage efficiency of matrix product state based computations by several orders of magnitudes, and makes large bond dimensions accessible even on simple desktop architectures. We use it to study post-quench dynamics in the repulsive SU(3) Hubbard model, and to determine the time evolution of various local operators and correlation functions …
We investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model after interaction quenches. In strong-coupling regime with large on-site interaction, the ground states of this model with small and large nearest-neighbor interactions are in spin-density-wave and charge-density-wave phases, respectively. Combining twisted boundary conditions with the time-dependent Lanczos method, we obtain snapshots of the time-dependent single-particle spectrum after quenches. We find that for quench within the same phase, the single-particle spectrum becomes close to that of the quen…
The one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model is used as testbed for strong global parameter quenches. With the aid of iterated equations of motion in combination with a suitable scalar product for operators we describe the dynamics and the long-term behavior in particular of the system after interaction quenches. This becomes possible because the employed approximation allows for oscillatory dynamics avoiding spurious divergences. The infinite-time behavior is captured by an analytical approach based on stationary phases; no numerical averages over long times need to be computed. We study the most …
We show that the non-equilibrium time-evolution after interaction quenches in the one dimensional, integrable Hubbard model exhibits a dynamical transition in the half-filled case. This transition ceases to exist upon doping. Our study is based on systematically extended equations of motion. Thus it is controlled for small and moderate times; no relaxation effects are neglected. Remarkable similarities to the quench dynamics in the infinite dimensional Hubbard model are found suggesting dynamical transitions to be a general feature of quenches in such models.
We study the time evolution of a half-filled Hubbard layer coupled to a magnon bath after a quench of the Hubbard interaction. Qualitatively different regimes, regarding the asymptotic long-time dynamics, are identified and characterized within the mean-field approximation. In the absence of the bath, the dynamics of the closed system is similar to that of a quenched BCS condensate. Though the presence of the bath introduces an additional relaxation mechanism, our numerical results and analytical arguments show that equilibration with the bath is not necessarily attained within the approximati…
Motivated by recent experiments in ultracold atomic gases that explore the nonequilibrium dynamics of interacting quantum many-body systems, we investigate the opposite limit of Landau's Fermi liquid paradigm: We study a Hubbard model with a sudden interaction quench, that is the interaction is switched on at time t=0. Using the flow equation method, we are able to study the real time dynamics for weak interaction U in a systematic expansion and find three clearly separated time regimes: i) An initial buildup of correlations where the quasiparticles are formed. ii) An intermediate quasi-steady…
We study quenches of the interaction and electron-phonon coupling parameter in the Hubbard-Holstein model, using nonequilibrium dynamical mean field theory. The calculations are based on a generalized Lang-Firsov scheme for time-dependent interactions or externally driven phonons, and an approximate strong-coupling impurity solver. The interaction quench calculations reveal the phonon-assisted decay of excess doublons, while the quenches of the electron-phonon coupling lead to persistent oscillations of the phonons and to a phonon-enhanced doublon production.
The optical conductivity contains information about energy absorption and the underlying physical processes. In finite-dimensional systems, vertex corrections to the bare bubble need to be considered, which is a computationally challenging task. Recent numerical studies showed that in the weak coupling limit, near an ordering instability with wave vector $π$, $π$-tons (or Maki-Thompson diagrams) yield the most relevant vertex corrections. This provides a route for including vertex corrections into, for example, dynamical mean field theory estimates of the optical conductivity. By implementing …
We study the spreading of correlations in space and time after a quantum quench in the Bose Hubbard model. We derive equations of motion for the single-particle Green's function within the contour-time formalism, allowing us to study dynamics in the strong coupling regime. We discuss the numerical solutions of these equations and calculate the single-particle density matrix for quenches in the Mott phase. We demonstrate light-cone like spreading of correlations in the Mott phase in one, two, and three dimensions and calculate propagation velocities in each dimension.
We study the nonequilibrium quench dynamics of a mixed Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, with competing two bodies random interactions leading to maximally chaotic Non-Fermi Liquid dynamics and a single body term which dominates at low temperatures and leads to Fermi liquid behavior. For different quench protocols, including sudden switching of two-body interaction and double quench protocols, we solve the large $N$ real-time Dyson equation on the Keldysh contour and compute the dynamics of Green's functions from which we obtain effective temperature and relaxation rates. We show that the model thermal…
We investigate the unitary dynamics following a sudden increase $ΔU>0$ of repulsion in the paramagnetic sector of the half-filled Hubbard model on a Bethe lattice, by means of a variational approach that combines a Gutzwiller wavefunction with a partial Schrieffer-Wolff transformation, both defined through time-dependent variational parameters. Besides recovering at $ΔU_c$ the known dynamical transition linked to the equilibrium Mott transition, we find pronounced dynamical anomaly at larger $ΔU_*>ΔU_c$ manifested in a singular behaviour of the long-time average of double occupancy. Although t…
We use non-equilibrium dynamical mean-field theory in combination with a recently developed Quantum Monte Carlo impurity solver to study the real-time dynamics of a Hubbard model which is driven out of equilibrium by a sudden increase in the on-site repulsion U. We discuss the implementation of the self-consistency procedure and some important technical improvements of the QMC method. The exact numerical solution is compared to iterated perturbation theory, which is found to produce accurate results only for weak interaction or short times. Furthermore we calculate the spectral functions and t…
The Lieb-Robinson bound implies that the unitary time evolution of an operator can be restricted to an effective light cone for any Hamiltonian with short-range interactions. Here we present a very efficient renormalization group algorithm based on this light cone structure to study the time evolution of prepared initial states in the thermodynamic limit in one-dimensional quantum systems. The algorithm does not require translational invariance and allows for an easy implementation of local conservation laws. We use the algorithm to investigate the relaxation dynamics of double occupancies in …
We study the time evolution of the antiferromagnetic order parameter after interaction quenches in the Hubbard model. Using the nonequilibrium dynamical mean field formalism, we show that the system, after a quench from intermediate to strong interaction, is trapped in a nonthermal state which is reminiscent of a photo-doped state and protected by the slow decay of doublons. If the effective doping of this state is low enough, it exhibits robust antiferromagnetic order, even if the system is highly excited and the thermal state thus expected to be paramagnetic. We comment on the implication of…
We investigate the quench of half-filled 1D and 2D fermionic Hubbard models to models without Coulomb interaction. Since the time propagation is gaussian we can use a variety of time-dependent quantum Monte Carlo methods to tackle this problem without generating a dynamical sign problem. Using a continuous time quantum Monte Carlo method (CTQMC) we achieve a system size of 128 sites in 1D, and using a Blankenbecler-Scalapino-Sugar (BSS) type algorithm we were able to simulate 20 x 20 square lattices. Applying these methods to study the dynamics after the quench, we observe that the final state…
Two conducting quantum systems coupled only via interactions can exhibit the phenomenon of Coulomb drag, in which a current passed through one layer can pull a current along in the other. However, in systems with particle-hole symmetry -- for instance, the half-filled Hubbard model or graphene near the Dirac point -- the Coulomb drag effect vanishes to leading order in the interaction. Its thermal analogue, whereby a thermal current in one layer pulls a thermal current in the other, does not vanish and is indeed the dominant form of drag in particle-hole symmetric systems. By studying a quantu…
The quench dynamics of the Hubbard model in tilted and harmonic potentials is discussed within the semiclassical picture. Applying the fermionic truncated Wigner approximation (fTWA), the dynamics of imbalances for charge and spin degrees of freedom is analyzed and its time evolution is compared with the exact simulations in one-dimensional lattice. Quench from charge or spin density wave is considered. We show that introduction of harmonic and spin-dependent linear potentials sufficiently validates fTWA for longer times. Such an improvement of fTWA is also obtained for the higher order correl…
We investigate the competition between superconductivity (SC) and charge density wave (CDW) under a time-dependent periodic field in the attractive Hubbard model. By employing the time-dependent exact diagonalization method, we show that the driving frequency and amplitude of the external field can control the enhancement of either the superconducting pair or the CDW correlations, which are degenerate in the ground state of the half-filled attractive Hubbard model in the absence of the field. In the strong-coupling limit of the attractive Hubbard interaction, the controllability is characteriz…
We employ a recently developed computational many-body technique to study for the first time the half-filled Anderson-Hubbard model at finite temperature and arbitrary correlation ($U$) and disorder ($V$) strengths. Interestingly, the narrow zero temperature metallic range induced by disorder from the Mott insulator expands with increasing temperature in a manner resembling a quantum critical point. Our study of the resistivity temperature scaling $T^α$ for this metal reveals non Fermi liquid characteristics. Moreover, a continuous dependence of $α$ on $U$ and $V$ from linear to nearly quadrat…
We obtain the exact time evolution for the one-dimensional integrable fermionic 1/r Hubbard model after a sudden change of its interaction parameter, starting from either a metallic or a Mott-insulating eigenstate. In all cases the system relaxes to a new steady state, showing that the presence of the Mott gap does not inhibit relaxation. The properties of the final state are described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble. We discuss under which conditions such ensembles provide the correct statistical description of isolated integrable systems in general. We find that generalized Gibbs ensembles d…
Via the hierarchy of correlations, we study the strongly interacting Fermi-Hubbard model in the Mott insulator state and couple it to a Markovian environment which constantly monitors the particle numbers $\hat n_μ^\uparrow$ and $\hat n_μ^\downarrow$ for each lattice site $μ$. As expected, the environment induces an imaginary part $γ$ (i.e., decay rate) of the quasi-particle frequencies $ω_{\mathbf{k}}\toω_{\mathbf{k}}-iγ$ and tends to diminish the correlations between lattice sites. Surprisingly, the environment does also steer the state of the system on intermediate time scales $\mathcal{O}(…
We experimentally and numerically investigate the sudden expansion of fermions in a homogeneous one-dimensional optical lattice. For initial states with an appreciable amount of doublons, we observe a dynamical phase separation between rapidly expanding singlons and slow doublons remaining in the trap center, realizing the key aspect of fermionic quantum distillation in the strongly-interacting limit. For initial states without doublons, we find a reduced interaction dependence of the asymptotic expansion speed compared to bosons, which is explained by the interaction energy produced in the qu…
We study the thermal conductivity of the one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model at finite temperature using a density matrix renormalization group approach. The integrability of this model gives rise to ballistic thermal transport. We calculate the temperature dependence of the thermal Drude weight at half filling for various interactions and moreover, we compute its filling dependence at infinite temperature. The finite-frequency contributions originating from the fact that the energy current is not a conserved quantity are investigated as well. We report evidence that breaking the integrability…
We study the real time dynamics of the Bose Hubbard model in the presence of time-dependent hopping allowing for a finite temperature initial state. We use the Schwinger-Keldysh technique to find the real-time strong coupling action for the problem at both zero and finite temperature. This action allows for the description of both the superfluid and Mott insulating phases. We use this action to obtain dynamical equations for the superfluid order parameter as hopping is tuned in real time so that the system crosses the superfluid phase boundary. We find that under a quench in the hopping, the s…
We investigate the ground-state phase diagram of the spinless Haldane-Hubbard model in the presence of quenched disorder, contrasting results obtained from both exact diagonalization as well as density matrix renormalization group, applied to a honeycomb cylinder. The interplay of disorder, interactions and topology gives rise to a rich phase diagram, and in particular highlights the possibility of a disorder-driven trivial-to-topological transition in the presence of finite interactions. That is, the topological Anderson insulator, demonstrated in non-interacting settings, is shown to be stab…
