Lack of thermalization for integrability-breaking impurities. (8th February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bastianello, Alvise
• Is Part Of: Europhysics letters. Volume 125:Number 2(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-02-08
• Subjects: 02.30.Ik -- 05.30.-d -- 05.20.-y; Physics -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/125/20001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0295-5075

Abstract

Abstract: We investigate the effects of localized integrability-breaking perturbations on the large times dynamics of thermodynamic one-dimensional quantum and classical systems. In particular, we suddenly activate an impurity which breaks the integrability of an otherwise homogeneous system. We focus on the large times dynamics and on the thermalization properties of the impurity, which is shown to have mere perturbative effects even at infinite times, thus preventing thermalization. This is in clear contrast with homogeneous integrability-breaking terms, which display the prethermalization paradigm and are expected to eventually cause thermalization, no matter the weakness of the integrability-breaking term. Analytic quantitative results are obtained in the case in which the bulk Hamiltonian is free and the impurity interacting.