The Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis in a Quantum Point Contact Geometry

Abstract

It is known that the long-range quantum entanglement exhibited in free fermion systems is sufficient to "thermalize" a small subsystem in that the subsystem reduced density matrix computed from a typical excited eigenstate of the combined system is approximately thermal. Remarkably, fermions without any interactions are thus thought to satisfy the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH). We explore this hypothesis when the fermion subsystem is only minimally coupled to a quantum reservoir (in the form of another fermion system) through a quantum point contact (QPC). The entanglement entropy of two 2-d free fermion systems connected by one or more quantum point contacts (QPC) is examined at finite energy and in the ground state. When the combined system is in a typical excited state, it is shown that the entanglement entropy of a subsystem connected by a small number of QPCs is sub-extensive, scaling as the linear size of the subsystem ($L_A$). For sufficiently low energies ($E$) and small subsystems, it is demonstrated numerically that the entanglement entropy $S_A \sim L_A E$, what one would expect for the thermodynamics of a one-dimensional system. In this limit, we suggest that the entropy carried by each additional QPC is quantized using the one-dimensional finite size/temperature conformal scaling: $\Delta S_A = \alpha \log{(1/E)\sinh{(L_AE)}}$. The sub-extensive entropy in the case of a small number of QPCs should be contrasted with the expectation for both classical, ergodic systems and quantum chaotic systems wherein a restricted geometry might affect the equilibrium relaxation times, but not the equilibrium properties themselves, such as extensive entropy and heat capacity.