Thermalization dynamics close to a quantum phase transition

Abstract

We investigate the dissipative dynamics of a quantum critical system in contact with a thermal bath. In analogy with the standard protocol employed to analyze aging, we study the response of a system to a sudden change of the bath temperature. The specific example of the XY model in a transverse magnetic field whose spins are locally coupled to a set of bosonic baths is considered. The peculiar nature of the dynamics is encoded in the correlations developing out of equilibrium. By means of a kinetic equation we analyze the spin-spin correlations and block correlations. We identify some universal features in the out-of-equilibrium dynamics. Two distinct regimes, characterized by different time and length scales, emerge. During the initial transient the dynamics is characterized by the same critical exponents as those of the equilibrium quantum phase transition and resembles the dynamics of thermal phase transitions. At long times equilibrium is reached through the propagation along the chain of a thermal front in a manner similar to the classical Glauber dynamics.

4 pages, 4 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett

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• Thermalization and Quantum Correlations in Exactly Solvable Models
• Quantum Quench from a Thermal Initial State
• Quench dynamics near a quantum critical point: application to the sine-Gordon model
• Thermalization and ergodicity in many-body open quantum systems
• Nonequilibrium quantum criticality in open systems: The dissipation rate as an additional indispensable scaling variable
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• Scaling behavior of quantum critical relaxation dynamics in a heat bath
• Fluctuation-Induced Heat Release from Temperature-Quenched Nuclear Spins near a Quantum Critical Point
• Critical properties of Sudden Quench Dynamics in the anisotropic XY Model