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Title: Quantum quench dynamics of the Bose-Hubbard model at finite temperatures

Journal Article · · Physical Review. A
 [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080 (China)
  2. FOCUS Center and MCTP, Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)

We study quench dynamics of the Bose-Hubbard model by exact diagonalization. Initially, the system is at thermal equilibrium and of a finite temperature. The system is then quenched by changing the on-site interaction strength U suddenly. Both the single-quench and double-quench scenarios are considered. In the former case, the time-averaged density matrix and the real-time evolution are investigated. It is found that though the system thermalizes only in a very narrow range of the quenched value of U, it does equilibrate or relax well into a much larger range. Most importantly, it is proven that this is guaranteed for some typical observables in the thermodynamic limit. In order to test whether it is possible to distinguish the unitarily evolving density matrix from the time-averaged (thus time-independent), fully decohered density matrix, a second quench is considered. It turns out that the answer is affirmative or negative depending on whether the intermediate value of U is zero or not.

OSTI ID:
21550167
Journal Information:
Physical Review. A, Vol. 83, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.063622; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English