Thermalization in Quantum Systems - and its breakdown

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:16110076,
            doi = {10.48660/16110076},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/16110076},
            author = {Rademaker, Louk},
            keywords = {Condensed Matter},
            language = {en},
            title = {Thermalization in Quantum Systems - and its breakdown},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2016},
            month = {nov},
            note = {PIRSA:16110076 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

How does thermalization in quantum systems work? Naively, the unitary time evolution prevents thermalization, but one can easily show that in general quantum systems thermalize when brought into contact with a thermal bath. In noninteracting systems, the approach to the thermal value can be either ballistic or diffusive depending on particle statistics and bath temperature.

 

However, many systems cannot be thermalized when placed in a bath: glasses.

 

I will discuss a disorderfree model of an organic electronic glass that is formed through rapid supercooling. Geometric frustration and long-range interactions cause the Arrhenius-type freezing.

 

Quenched disorder can also lead to glassiness, a phenomenon known as many-body localization. In this case, thermalization is prevented by the existence of extensively many local integrals of motion. I will show how to compute these integrals of motion and their properties.