Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Kaur, Manmeet, Bhattacharjee, Somendra M.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.15931
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866917299442679808
author Kaur, Manmeet
Bhattacharjee, Somendra M.
author_facet Kaur, Manmeet
Bhattacharjee, Somendra M.
contents This work presents a unified perspective on thermal equilibrium and quantum dynamics by examining the simplest quantum system, a qubit, as a minimal model. We show that both the thermal partition function and the Loschmidt amplitude can be understood as extensions of a single analytic function along different paths in the complex plane. The zeros of Loschmidt amplitude encode dynamical features such as orthogonality, rate function singularities, and quantum speed limits, in analogy with the role of partition function zeros in equilibrium statistical mechanics. We further establish, through the Cauchy-Riemann equations, that the high-temperature specific heat corresponds to early-time evolution. The discussion follows a pedagogical progression from a single qubit to an interacting spin chain, all with finite dimensional Hilbert spaces.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_15931
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Qubit as a Bridge Between Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Dynamics
Kaur, Manmeet
Bhattacharjee, Somendra M.
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
This work presents a unified perspective on thermal equilibrium and quantum dynamics by examining the simplest quantum system, a qubit, as a minimal model. We show that both the thermal partition function and the Loschmidt amplitude can be understood as extensions of a single analytic function along different paths in the complex plane. The zeros of Loschmidt amplitude encode dynamical features such as orthogonality, rate function singularities, and quantum speed limits, in analogy with the role of partition function zeros in equilibrium statistical mechanics. We further establish, through the Cauchy-Riemann equations, that the high-temperature specific heat corresponds to early-time evolution. The discussion follows a pedagogical progression from a single qubit to an interacting spin chain, all with finite dimensional Hilbert spaces.
title A Qubit as a Bridge Between Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Dynamics
topic Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.15931