A Bound on Thermalization from Diffusive Fluctuations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Delacretaz, Luca V.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Delacretaz, Luca V.
author_facet Delacretaz, Luca V.
contents The local equilibration time of quantum many-body systems has been conjectured to satisfy a `Planckian bound', $τ_{\rm eq}\gtrsim \frac{\hbar}{T}$. We provide a sharp and universal definition of this time scale, and show that it is bounded below by the strong coupling scale of diffusive fluctuations, which can be expressed in terms of familiar transport parameters. When applied to quantum field theories at finite temperature, this fluctuation bound implies the Planckian bound. The fluctuation bound moreover applies to any local thermalizing system, and we study its implication for correlated insulators, metals, as well as disordered fixed points, where it can be used to establish a lower bound on the diffusivity in terms of the specific heat $D\gtrsim 1/(c_V^{2/d}τ_{\rm eq})$. Finally, we discuss how the local equilibration time can be directly measured in experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_16948
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Bound on Thermalization from Diffusive Fluctuations
Delacretaz, Luca V.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Statistical Mechanics
High Energy Physics - Theory
The local equilibration time of quantum many-body systems has been conjectured to satisfy a `Planckian bound', $τ_{\rm eq}\gtrsim \frac{\hbar}{T}$. We provide a sharp and universal definition of this time scale, and show that it is bounded below by the strong coupling scale of diffusive fluctuations, which can be expressed in terms of familiar transport parameters. When applied to quantum field theories at finite temperature, this fluctuation bound implies the Planckian bound. The fluctuation bound moreover applies to any local thermalizing system, and we study its implication for correlated insulators, metals, as well as disordered fixed points, where it can be used to establish a lower bound on the diffusivity in terms of the specific heat $D\gtrsim 1/(c_V^{2/d}τ_{\rm eq})$. Finally, we discuss how the local equilibration time can be directly measured in experiments.
title A Bound on Thermalization from Diffusive Fluctuations
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Statistical Mechanics
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.16948