Thermalization at low temperatures via weakly damped multisite baths

Journal Article · 31 July 2023 · Physical Review. B

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.108.035156 · OSTI ID:2424709

Zanoci, Cristian  ^[1]; Yoo, Yongchan  ^[2]; Swingle, Brian ^[3]

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1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
2. University of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
3. Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (United States)

We study the thermalization properties of one-dimensional open quantum systems coupled to baths at their boundary. The baths are driven to their thermal states via Lindblad operators, while the system undergoes Hamiltonian dynamics. We specifically consider multisite baths and investigate the extent to which the late-time steady state resembles a Gibbs state at some controllable temperature set by the baths. We study three models: a noninteracting fermion model accessible via free-fermion technology, and two interacting models, the XZ model and the chiral clock model, which are accessible via tensor network methods. We show that, by tuning towards the weak coupling and slow relaxation limits, one can engineer low temperatures in the bulk of the system provided the bath size is big enough. Here, we use this capability to study energy transport in the XZ model at lower temperatures than previously reported. Our work paves the way for future studies of interacting open quantum systems at low temperatures.

• Research Organization: US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States). Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 2424709
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Journal Name: Physical Review. B Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 108; ISSN 2469-9950; ISSN PRBMDO
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English