Closed and Open System Dynamics in a Fermionic Chain with a Microscopically Specified Bath: Relaxation and Thermalization
arXiv:1212.0223 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.100406
Abstract
We study thermalization in a one-dimensional quantum system consisting of a noninteracting fermionic chain with each site of the chain coupled to an additional bath site. Using a density matrix renormalization group algorithm we investigate the time evolution of observables in the chain after a quantum quench. For low densities we show that the intermediate time dynamics can be quantitatively described by a system of coupled equations of motion. For higher densities our numerical results show a prethermalization for local observables at intermediate times and a full thermalization to the grand canonical ensemble at long times. For the case of a weak bath-chain coupling we find, in particular, a Fermi momentum distribution in the chain in equilibrium in spite of the seemingly oversimplified bath in our model.
4+4 pages, 4+4 figures, as published with new title
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