Sudden change of the thermal contact between two quantum systems

Abstract

In this paper, we address the issue of the stability of the thermal equilibrium of large quantum systems with respect to variations of the thermal contact between them. We study the Schrödinger time evolution of a free bosonic field in two coupled one-dimensional cavities after a sudden change of the contact between the cavities. Though the coupling we consider is thermodynamically small, modifying it has a considerable impact on the two-point correlation functions of the system. We find that they do not return to equilibrium but essentially oscillate with a period proportional to the length of the cavities. We compare this coupled cavities system with the perfect gas which is described by similar expressions but behaves very differently.

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