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Viktor Eisler

Publications and source records attributed to Viktor Eisler.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Magnetization and entanglement after a geometric quench in the XXZ chain

We investigate the dynamics of the XXZ spin chain after a geometric quench, which is realized by connecting two half-chains prepared in their ground states with zero and maximum magnetizations, respectively. The profiles of magnetization after the subsequent time evolution are studied numerically by density-matrix renormalization group methods, and a comparison to the predictions of generalized hydrodynamics yields a very good agreement. We also calculate the profiles of entanglement entropy and propose an ansatz for the noninteracting XX case, based on arguments from conformal field theory. In the general interacting case, the propagation of the entropy front is studied numerically both before and after the reflection from the chain boundaries. Finally, our results for the magnetization fluctuations indicate a leading order proportionality relation to the entanglement entropy.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Hydrodynamical phase transition for domain-wall melting in the XY chain

We study the melting of a domain wall, prepared as a certain low-energy excitation above the ferromagnetic ground state of the XY chain. In a well defined parameter regime the time-evolved magnetization profile develops sharp kink-like structures in the bulk, showing features of a phase transition in the hydrodynamic scaling limit. The transition is of purely dynamical nature and can be attributed to the appearance of a negative effective mass term in the dispersion. The signatures are also clearly visible in the entanglement profile measured along the front region, which can be obtained by covariance-matrix methods despite the state being non-Gaussian.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Properties of the entanglement Hamiltonian for finite free-fermion chains

We study the entanglement Hamiltonian for fermionic hopping models on rings and open chains and determine single-particle spectra, eigenfunctions and the form in real space. For the chain, we find a commuting operator as for the ring and compare with its properties in both cases. In particular, a scaling relation between the eigenvalues is found for large systems. We also show how the commutation property carries over to the critical transverse Ising model.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Front dynamics and entanglement in the XXZ chain with a gradient

We consider the XXZ spin chain with a magnetic field gradient and study the profiles of the magnetization as well as the entanglement entropy. For a slowly varying field it is shown that, by means of a local density approximation, the ground-state magnetization profile can be obtained with standard Bethe ansatz techniques. Furthermore, it is argued that the low-energy description of the theory is given by a Luttinger liquid with slowly varying parameters. This allows us to obtain a very good approximation of the entanglement profile using a recently introduced technique of conformal field theory in curved spacetime. Finally, the front dynamics is also studied after the gradient field has been switched off, following arguments of generalized hydrodynamics for integrable systems. While for the XX chain the hydrodynamic solution can be found analytically, the XXZ case appears to be more complicated and the magnetization profiles are recovered only around the edge of the front via an approximate numerical solution.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Analytical results for the entanglement Hamiltonian of a free-fermion chain

We study the ground-state entanglement Hamiltonian for an interval of $N$ sites in a free-fermion chain with arbitrary filling. By relating it to a commuting operator, we find explicit expressions for its matrix elements in the large-$N$ limit. The results agree with numerical calculations and show that deviations from the conformal prediction persist even for large systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Universal front propagation in the quantum Ising chain with domain-wall initial states

We study the melting of domain walls in the ferromagnetic phase of the transverse Ising chain, created by flipping the order-parameter spins along one-half of the chain. If the initial state is excited by a local operator in terms of Jordan-Wigner fermions, the resulting longitudinal magnetization profiles have a universal character. Namely, after proper rescalings, the profiles in the noncritical Ising chain become identical to those obtained for a critical free-fermion chain starting from a step-like initial state. The relation holds exactly in the entire ferromagnetic phase of the Ising chain and can even be extended to the zero-field XY model by a duality argument. In contrast, for domain-wall excitations that are highly non-local in the fermionic variables, the universality of the magnetization profiles is lost. Nevertheless, for both cases we observe that the entanglement entropy asymptotically saturates at the ground-state value, suggesting a simple form of the steady state.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Entanglement negativity in two-dimensional free lattice models

We study the scaling properties of the ground-state entanglement between finite subsystems of infinite two-dimensional free lattice models, as measured by the logarithmic negativity. For adjacent regions with a common boundary, we observe that the negativity follows a strict area law for a lattice of harmonic oscillators, whereas for fermionic hopping models the numerical results indicate a multiplicative logarithmic correction. In this latter case, we conjecture a formula for the prefactor of the area-law violating term, which is entirely determined by the geometries of the Fermi surface and the boundary between the subsystems. The conjecture is tested against numerical results and a good agreement is found.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Real-time dynamics in a strongly interacting bosonic hopping model: Global quenches and mapping to the XX chain

We study the time evolution of an integrable many-particle system, described by the $q$-boson Hamiltonian in the limit of strong interactions $q\to\infty$. It is shown that, for a particular class of pure initial states, the analytical calculation of certain observables simplifies considerably. Namely, we provide exact formulas for the calculation of the Loschmidt-echo and the emptiness formation probability, where the computational time scales polynomially with the particle number. Moreover, we construct a non-local mapping of the $q$-boson model to the XX spin chain, and show how this can be utilized to obtain the time evolution of various local bosonic observables for translationally invariant initial states. The results obtained via the bosonic and fermionic picture show perfect agreement. In the infinite volume and large time limits, we rigorously verify the prediction of the Generalized Gibbs Ensemble for homogeneous initial Fock states.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Entanglement in composite free-fermion systems

We consider fermionic chains where the two halves are either metals with different bandwidths or a metal and an insulator. Both are coupled together by a special bond. We study the ground-state entanglement entropy between the two pieces, its dependence on the parameters and its asymptotic form. We also discuss the features of the entanglement Hamiltonians in both subsystems and the evolution of the entanglement entropy after joining the two parts of the system.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

On the partial transpose of fermionic Gaussian states

We consider Gaussian states of fermionic systems and study the action of the partial transposition on the density matrix. It is shown that, with a suitable choice of basis, these states are transformed into a linear combination of two Gaussian operators that are uniquely defined in terms of the covariance matrix of the original state. In case of a reflection symmetric geometry, this result can be used to efficiently calculate a lower bound for a well-known entanglement measure, the logarithmic negativity. Furthermore, exact expressions can be derived for traces involving integer powers of the partial transpose. The method can also be applied to the quantum Ising chain and the results show perfect agreement with the predictions of conformal field theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Entanglement negativity in the harmonic chain out of equilibrium

We study the entanglement in a chain of harmonic oscillators driven out of equilibrium by preparing the two sides of the system at different temperatures, and subsequently joining them together. The steady state is constructed explicitly and the logarithmic negativity is calculated between two adjacent segments of the chain. We find that, for low temperatures, the steady-state entanglement is a sum of contributions pertaining to left- and right-moving excitations emitted from the two reservoirs. In turn, the steady-state entanglement is a simple average of the Gibbs-state values and thus its scaling can be obtained from conformal field theory. A similar averaging behaviour is observed during the entire time evolution. As a particular case, we also discuss a local quench where both sides of the chain are initialized in their respective ground states.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Real time evolution at finite temperatures with operator space matrix product states

We propose a method to simulate the real time evolution of one dimensional quantum many-body systems at finite temperature by expressing both the density matrices and the observables as matrix product states. This allows the calculation of expectation values and correlation functions as scalar products in operator space. The simulations of density matrices in inverse temperature and the local operators in the Heisenberg picture are independent and result in a grid of expectation values for all intermediate temperatures and times. Simulations can be performed using real arithmetics with only polynomial growth of computational resources in inverse temperature and time for integrable systems. The method is illustrated for the XXZ model and the single impurity Anderson model.

quant-ph↗

Surface and bulk entanglement in free-fermion chains

We consider free-fermion chains where full and empty parts are connected by a transition region with narrow surfaces. This can be caused by a linear potential or by time evolution from a step-like initial state. Entanglement spectra, entanglement entropies and fluctuations are determined for subsystems either in the surface region or extending into the bulk. In all cases there is logarithmic behaviour in the subsystem size, but the prefactors in the surface differ from those in the bulk by 3/2. A previous fluctuation result is corrected and a general scaling formula is inferred from the data.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Area law violation for the mutual information in a nonequilibrium steady state

We study the nonequilibrium steady state of an infinite chain of free fermions, resulting from an initial state where the two sides of the system are prepared at different temperatures. The mutual information is calculated between two adjacent segments of the chain and is found to scale logarithmically in the subsystem size. This provides the first example of the violation of the area law in a quantum many-body system outside a zero temperature regime. The prefactor of the logarithm is obtained analytically and, furthermore, the same prefactor is shown to govern the logarithmic increase of mutual information in time, before the system relaxes locally to the steady state.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Universality in the full counting statistics of trapped fermions

We study the distribution of particle number in extended subsystems of a one-dimensional non-interacting Fermi gas confined in a potential well at zero temperature. Universal features are identified in the scaled bulk and edge regions of the trapped gas where the full counting statistics are given by the corresponding limits of the eigenvalue statistics in Gaussian unitary random matrix ensembles. The universal limiting behavior is confirmed by the bulk and edge scaling of the particle number fluctuations and the entanglement entropy.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Free-fermion entanglement and spheroidal functions

We consider the entanglement properties of free fermions in one dimension and review an approach which relates the problem to the solution of a certain differential equation. The single-particle eigenfunctions of the entanglement Hamiltonian are then seen to be spheroidal functions or generalizations of them. The analytical results for the eigenvalue spectrum agree with those obtained by other methods. In the continuum case, there are close connections to random matrix theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Full counting statistics in a propagating quantum front and random matrix spectra

One-dimensional free fermions are studied with emphasis on propagating fronts emerging from a step initial condition. The probability distribution of the number of particles at the edge of the front is determined exactly. It is found that the full counting statistics coincides with the eigenvalue statistics of the edge spectrum of matrices from the Gaussian unitary ensemble. The correspondence established between the random matrix eigenvalues and the particle positions yields the order statistics of the right-most particles in the front and, furthermore, it implies their subdiffusive spreading.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

On entanglement evolution across defects in critical chains

We consider a local quench where two free-fermion half-chains are coupled via a defect. We show that the logarithmic increase of the entanglement entropy is governed by the same effective central charge which appears in the ground-state properties and which is known exactly. For unequal initial filling of the half-chains, we determine the linear increase of the entanglement entropy.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗