Inhomogeneous conformal field theory out of equilibrium

Abstract

We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of conformal field theory (CFT) in 1+1 dimensions with a smooth position-dependent velocity $v(x)$ explicitly breaking translation invariance. Such inhomogeneous CFT is argued to effectively describe 1+1-dimensional quantum many-body systems with certain inhomogeneities varying on mesoscopic scales. Both heat and charge transport are studied, where, for concreteness, we suppose that our CFT has a conserved U$(1)$ current. Based on projective unitary representations of diffeomorphisms and smooth maps in Minkowskian CFT, we obtain a recipe for computing the exact non-equilibrium dynamics in inhomogeneous CFT when evolving from initial states defined by smooth inverse-temperature and chemical-potential profiles $\beta (x)$ and $\mu (x)$. Using this recipe, the following exact analytical results are obtained: (i) the full time evolution of densities and currents for heat and charge transport, (ii) correlation functions for components of the energy-momentum tensor and the U$(1)$ current as well as for any primary field, and (iii) the thermal and electrical conductivities. The latter are computed by direct dynamical considerations and alternatively using a Green-Kubo formula. Both give the same explicit expressions for the conductivities, which reveal how inhomogeneous dynamics opens up the possibility for diffusion as well as implies a generalization of the Wiedemann-Franz law to finite times within CFT.

34 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure; updated and revised, final published version; added dedication to Krzysztof Gawędzki

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