Physics (Internal)

On the road to quantum turbulence: Relaxation and thermalization of a one-dimensional interacting quantum many-body system.

This event is part of the Condensed Matter Theory Seminar Series.

Abstract: Quantum mechanics is a linear theory, so the possibility of thermalization in a quantum many-body system has always been a counter-intuitive phenomenon, drawing vivid attention of theorists and experimentalists alike. Our present work is inspired by recent experiments of I. Bloch's group, where they observed relaxation and thermalization of a system of neutral bosonic atoms after a quantum quench. To describe observed dynamics we derived quantum kinetic (rate) equations and compared them to numerical simulations of the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard chain. We found that the system develops a long-lived pre-thermalized state, describable by a generalized Gibbs ensemble. Power-law scalings of the pre-thermalized state suggest connections with Kolmogorov's solutions for turbulence, which can cast a new light on general processes of quantum relaxation.