Quantum Heat Baths satisfying the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis

Abstract

A class of autonomous quantum heat baths satisfying the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) criteria is proposed. We show that such systems are expected to cause thermal relaxation of much smaller quantum systems coupled to one of the baths local observables. The process of thermalization is examined through residual fluctuations of local observables of the bath around their thermal values predicted by ETH. It is shown that such fluctuations perturb the small quantum system causing its decoherence to the thermal state. As an example, we investigate theoretically and numerically thermalization of a qubit coupled to a realistic ETH quantum heat bath.

6 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Thermalization and its mechanism for generic isolated quantum systems
• The second law, Maxwell's daemon and work derivable from quantum heat engines
• Conservative chaotic map as a model of quantum many-body environment
• Finite quantum environments as thermostats: an analysis based on the Hilbert space average method

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Artificial quantum thermal bath: Engineering temperature for a many-body quantum system
• Roadmap on Quantum Thermodynamics
• Classification of Quench Dynamical Behaviours in Spinor Condensates
• Emergence of steady quantum transport in a superconducting processor
• Quantum master equation from the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis
• Open-system eigenstate thermalization in a noninteracting integrable model
• Internal temperature of quantum chaotic systems at the nanoscale and its detection by a microscopic thermometer
• Interplay of decoherence and relaxation in a two-level system interacting with an infinite-temperature reservoir
• Finite speed heat transport in a quantum spin chain after quenched local cooling