Focus on Dynamics and Thermalization in Isolated Quantum Many-Body Systems

The dynamics and thermalization of classical systems have been extensively studied in the past. However, the corresponding quantum phenomena remain, to a large extent, uncharted territory. Recent experiments with ultracold quantum gases have at last allowed exploration of the coherent dynamics of isolated quantum systems, as well as observation of non-equilibrium phenomena that challenge our current understanding of the dynamics of quantum many-body systems. These experiments have also posed many new questions. How can we control the dynamics to engineer new states of matter? Given that quantum dynamics is unitary, under which conditions can we expect observables of the system to reach equilibrium values that can be predicted by conventional statistical mechanics? And, how do the observables dynamically approach their statistical equilibrium values? Could the approach to equilibrium be hampered if the system is trapped in long-lived metastable states characterized, for example, by a certain distribution of topological defects? How does the dynamics depend on the way the system is perturbed, such as changing, as a function of time and at a given rate, a parameter across a quantum critical point? What if, conversely, after relaxing to a steady state, the observables cannot be described by the standard equilibrium ensembles of statistical mechanics? How would they depend on the initial conditions in addition to the other properties of the system, such as the existence of conserved quantities? The search for answers to questions like these is fundamental to a new research field that is only beginning to be explored, and to which researchers with different backgrounds, such as nuclear, atomic, and condensed-matter physics, as well as quantum optics, can make, and are making, important contributions. This body of knowledge has an immediate application to experiments in the field of ultracold atomic gases, but can also fundamentally change the way we approach and understand many-body quantum systems. This focus issue of New Journal Physics brings together both experimentalists and theoreticians working on these problems to provide a comprehensive picture of the state of the field. Focus on Dynamics and Thermalization in Isolated Quantum Many-Body Systems Contents Spin squeezing of high-spin, spatially extended quantum fields Jay D Sau, Sabrina R Leslie, Marvin L Cohen and Dan M Stamper-Kurn Thermodynamic entropy of a many-body energy eigenstate J M Deutsch Ground states and dynamics of population-imbalanced Fermi condensates in one dimension Masaki Tezuka and Masahito Ueda Relaxation dynamics in the gapped XXZ spin-1/2 chain Jorn Mossel and Jean-Sébastien Caux Canonical thermalization Peter Reimann Minimally entangled typical thermal state algorithms E M Stoudenmire and Steven R White Manipulation of the dynamics of many-body systems via quantum control methods Julie Dinerman and Lea F Santos Multimode analysis of non-classical correlations in double-well Bose–Einstein condensates Andrew J Ferris and Matthew J Davis Thermalization in a quasi-one-dimensional ultracold bosonic gas I E Mazets and J Schmiedmayer Two simple systems with cold atoms: quantum chaos tests and non-equilibrium dynamics Cavan Stone, Yassine Ait El Aoud, Vladimir A Yurovsky and Maxim Olshanii On the speed of fluctuations around thermodynamic equilibrium Noah Linden, Sandu Popescu, Anthony J Short and Andreas Winter A quantum central limit theorem for non-equilibrium systems: exact local relaxation of correlated states M Cramer and J Eisert Quantum quench dynamics of the sine-Gordon model in some solvable limits A Iucci and M A Cazalilla Nonequilibrium quantum dynamics of atomic dark solitons A D Martin and J Ruostekoski Quantum quenches in the anisotropic spin-1⁄2 Heisenberg chain: different approaches to many-body dynamics far from equilibrium Peter Barmettler, Matthias Punk, Vladimir Gritsev, Eugene Demler and Ehud Altman Crossover from adiabatic to sudden interaction quenches in the Hubbard model: prethermalization and non-equilibrium dynamics Michael Moeckel and Stefan Kehrein Quantum quenches in integrable field theories Davide Fioretto and Giuseppe Mussardo Dynamical delocalization of Majorana edge states by sweeping across a quantum critical point A Bermudez, L Amico and M A Martin-Delgado Thermometry with spin-dependent lattices D McKay and B DeMarco Near-adiabatic parameter changes in correlated systems: influence of the ramp protocol on the excitation energy Martin Eckstein and Marcus Kollar Sudden change of the thermal contact between two quantum systems J Restrepo and S Camalet Reflection of a Lieb–Liniger wave packet from the hard-wall potential D Jukić and H Buljan Probing interaction-induced ferromagnetism in optical superlattices J von Stecher, E Demler, M D Lukin and A M Rey Sudden interaction quench in the quantum sine-Gordon model Javier Sabio and Stefan Kehrein Dynamics of an inhomogeneous quantum phase transition Jacek Dziarmaga and Marek M Rams