Stroboscopic prethermalization in weakly interacting periodically driven systems

Time-periodic driving provides a promising route to engineer non-trivial states in quantum many-body systems. However, while it has been shown that the dynamics of integrable systems can synchronize with the driving into a non-trivial periodic motion, generic non-integrable systems are expected to heat up until they display a trivial infinite-temperature behavior. In this paper we show that a quasi-periodic time evolution over many periods can also emerge in systems with weak integrability breaking, with a clear separation of the timescales for synchronization and the eventual approach of the infinite-temperature state. This behavior is the analogue of prethermalization in quenched systems. The synchronized state can be described using a macroscopic number of approximate constants of motion. We corroborate these findings with numerical simulations for the driven Hubbard model.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, published versio

Dynamical phase transition in correlated fermionic lattice systems

We use non-equilibrium dynamical mean-field theory to demonstrate the existence of a critical interaction in the real-time dynamics of the Hubbard model after an interaction quench. The critical point is characterized by fast thermalization and separates weak-coupling and strong-coupling regimes in which the relaxation is delayed due to prethermalization on intermediate timescales. This dynamical phase transition should be observable in experiments on trapped fermionic atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Emergence of a common energy scale close to the orbital-selective Mott transition

We calculate the spectra and spin susceptibilities of a Hubbard model with two bands having different bandwidths but the same on-site interaction, with parameters close to the orbital-selective Mott transition, using dynamical mean-field theory. If the Hund's rule coupling is sufficiently strong, one common energy scale emerges which characterizes both the location of kinks in the self-energy and extrema of the diagonal spin susceptibilities. A physical explanation of this energy scale is derived from a Kondo-type model. We infer that for multi-band systems local spin dynamics rather than spectral functions determine the location of kinks in the effective band structure.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Improvements of the Variable Thermal Resistance

A flat mounting unit with electronically variable thermal resistance [1] has been presented in the last year [2]. The design was based on a Peltier cell and the appropriate control electronics and software. The device is devoted especially to the thermal characterization of packages, e.g. in dual cold plate arrangements. Although this design meets the requirements of the static measurement we are intended to improve its parameters as the settling time and dynamic thermal impedance and the range of realized thermal resistance. The new design applies the heat flux sensor developed by our team as well [3], making easier the control of the device. This development allows even the realization of negative thermal resistances.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Isosbestic Points: Theory and Applications

We analyze the sharpness of crossing ("isosbestic") points of a family of curves which are observed in many quantities described by a function f(x,p), where x is a variable (e.g., the frequency) and p a parameter (e.g., the temperature). We show that if a narrow crossing region is observed near x* for a range of parameters p, then f(x,p) can be approximated by a perturbative expression in p for a wide range of x. This allows us, e.g., to extract the temperature dependence of several experimentally obtained quantities, such as the Raman response of HgBa2CuO4+delta, photoemission spectra of thin VO2 films, and the reflectivity of CaCu3Ti4O12, all of which exhibit narrow crossing regions near certain frequencies. We also explain the sharpness of isosbestic points in the optical conductivity of the Falicov-Kimball model and the spectral function of the Hubbard model.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure