Inhomogeneous quenches in the transverse field Ising chain: scaling and front dynamics

We investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of the transverse field quantum Ising chain evolving from an inhomogeneous initial state given by joining two macroscopically different semi-infinite chains. We obtain integral expressions for all two-point correlation functions of the Jordan-Wigner Majorana fermions at any time and for any value of the transverse field. Using this result, we compute analytically the profiles of various physical observables in the space-time scaling limit and show that they can be obtained from a hydrodynamic picture based on ballistically propagating quasiparticles. Going beyond the hydrodynamic limit, we analyze the approach to the non-equilibrium steady state and find that the leading late time corrections display a lattice effect. We also study the fine structure of the propagating fronts which are found to be described by the Airy kernel and its derivatives. Near the front we observe the phenomenon of energy back-flow where the energy locally flows from the colder to the hotter region

Finite temperature spin dynamics in a perturbed quantum critical Ising chain with an E8E_8 symmetry

A spectrum exhibiting $E_8$ symmetry is expected to arise when a small longitudinal field is introduced in the transverse-field Ising chain at its quantum critical point. Evidence for this spectrum has recently come from neutron scattering measurements in cobalt niobate, a quasi one-dimensional Ising ferromagnet. Unlike its zero-temperature counterpart, the finite-temperature dynamics of the model has not yet been determined. We study the dynamical spin structure factor of the model at low frequencies and nonzero temperatures, using the form factor method. Its frequency dependence is singular, but differs from the diffusion form. The temperature dependence of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation rate has an activated form, whose prefactor we also determine. We propose NMR experiments as a means to further test the applicability of the $E_8$ description for CoNb$_2$O$_6$.Comment: 5 pages 2 figures - Supplementary Material 11 page

Transport in the sine-Gordon field theory: from generalized hydrodynamics to semiclassics

The semiclassical approach introduced by Sachdev and collaborators proved to be extremely successful in the study of quantum quenches in massive field theories, both in homogeneous and inhomogeneous settings. While conceptually very simple, this method allows one to obtain analytic predictions for several observables when the density of excitations produced by the quench is small. At the same time, a novel generalized hydrodynamic (GHD) approach, which captures exactly many asymptotic features of the integrable dynamics, has recently been introduced. Interestingly, also this theory has a natural interpretation in terms of semiclassical particles and it is then natural to compare the two approaches. This is the objective of this work: we carry out a systematic comparison between the two methods in the prototypical example of the sine-Gordon field theory. In particular, we study the "bipartitioning protocol" where the two halves of a system initially prepared at different temperatures are joined together and then left to evolve unitarily with the same Hamiltonian. We identify two different limits in which the semiclassical predictions are analytically recovered from GHD: a particular non-relativistic limit and the low temperature regime. Interestingly, the transport of topological charge becomes sub-ballistic in these cases. Away from these limits we find that the semiclassical predictions are only approximate and, in contrast to the latter, the transport is always ballistic. This statement seems to hold true even for the so-called "hybrid" semiclassical approach, where finite time DMRG simulations are used to describe the evolution in the internal space.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figure

Quench dynamics of the Ising field theory in a magnetic field

We numerically simulate the time evolution of the Ising field theory after quenches starting from the $E_8$ integrable model using the Truncated Conformal Space Approach. The results are compared with two different analytic predictions based on form factor expansions in the pre-quench and post-quench basis, respectively. Our results clarify the domain of validity of these expansions and suggest directions for further improvement. We show for quenches in the $E_8$ model that the initial state is not of the integrable pair state form. We also construct quench overlap functions and show that their high-energy asymptotics are markedly different from those constructed before in the sinh/sine-Gordon theory, and argue that this is related to properties of the ultraviolet fixed point

Perturbative post-quench overlaps in Quantum Field Theory

In analytic descriptions of quantum quenches, the overlaps between the initial pre-quench state and the eigenstates of the time evolving Hamiltonian are crucial ingredients. We construct perturbative expansions of these overlaps in quantum field theories where either the pre-quench or the post-quench Hamiltonian is integrable. Using the $E_8$ Ising field theory for concrete computations, we give explicit expressions for the overlaps up to second order in the quench size, and verify our results against numerical results obtained using the Truncated Conformal Space Approach. We demonstrate that the expansion using the post-quench basis is very effective, but find some serious limitations for the alternative approach using the pre-quench basis

Temperature driven quenches in the Ising model: appearance of negative Rényi mutual information

We study the dynamics of the transverse field Ising chain after a local quench in which two independently thermalised chains are joined together and are left to evolve unitarily. In the emerging non-equilibrium steady state the Rényi mutual information with different indices are calculated between two adjacent segments of the chain, and are found to scale logarithmically in the subsystem size. Surprisingly, for Rényi indices > 2 we find cases where the prefactor of the logarithmic dependence is negative. The fact that the naively defined Rényi mutual information might be negative has been pointed out before, however, we provide the first example for this scenario in a realistic many-body setup. Our numerical and analytical results indicate that in this setup it can be negative for any index > 2 while it is always positive for < 2. Interestingly, even for > 2 the calculated prefactors show some universal features: for example, the same prefactor is also shown to govern the logarithmic time dependence of the Rényi mutual information before the system relaxes locally to the steady state. In particular, it can decrease in the non-equilibrium evolution after the quench

Kibble-Zurek mechanism in the Ising Field Theory

The Kibble-Zurek mechanism captures universality when a system is driven through a continuous phase transition. Here we study the dynamical aspect of quantum phase transitions in the Ising Field Theory where the quantum critical point can be crossed in different directions in the two-dimensional coupling space leading to different scaling laws. Using the Truncated Conformal Space Approach, we investigate the microscopic details of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism in terms of instantaneous eigenstates in a genuinely interacting field theory. For different protocols, we demonstrate dynamical scaling in the non-adiabatic time window and provide analytic and numerical evidence for specific scaling properties of various quantities. In particular, we argue that the higher cumulants of the excess heat exhibit universal scaling in generic interacting models for a slow enough ramp