Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lloyd, Jerome, Abanin, Dmitry A., Gopalakrishnan, Sarang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02567
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908477987749888
author Lloyd, Jerome
Abanin, Dmitry A.
Gopalakrishnan, Sarang
author_facet Lloyd, Jerome
Abanin, Dmitry A.
Gopalakrishnan, Sarang
contents The Markov length was recently proposed as an information-theoretic diagnostic for quantum mixed-state phase transitions [Sang & Hsieh, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 070403 (2025)]. Here, we show that the Markov length diverges even under classical stochastic dynamics, when a low-temperature ordered state is quenched into the high temperature phase. Conventional observables do not exhibit growing length scales upon quenching into the high-temperature phase; however, the Markov length grows exponentially in time. Consequently, the state of a system as it heats becomes increasingly non-Gibbsian, and the range of its putative "parent Hamiltonian" must diverge with the Markov length. From this information-theoretic point of view the late-time limit of thermalization is singular. We introduce a numerical technique for computing the Markov length based on matrix-product states, and explore its dynamics under general thermal quenches in the one-dimensional classical Ising model. For all cases, we provide simple information-theoretic arguments that explain our results.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_02567
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Diverging conditional correlation lengths in the approach to high temperature
Lloyd, Jerome
Abanin, Dmitry A.
Gopalakrishnan, Sarang
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
The Markov length was recently proposed as an information-theoretic diagnostic for quantum mixed-state phase transitions [Sang & Hsieh, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 070403 (2025)]. Here, we show that the Markov length diverges even under classical stochastic dynamics, when a low-temperature ordered state is quenched into the high temperature phase. Conventional observables do not exhibit growing length scales upon quenching into the high-temperature phase; however, the Markov length grows exponentially in time. Consequently, the state of a system as it heats becomes increasingly non-Gibbsian, and the range of its putative "parent Hamiltonian" must diverge with the Markov length. From this information-theoretic point of view the late-time limit of thermalization is singular. We introduce a numerical technique for computing the Markov length based on matrix-product states, and explore its dynamics under general thermal quenches in the one-dimensional classical Ising model. For all cases, we provide simple information-theoretic arguments that explain our results.
title Diverging conditional correlation lengths in the approach to high temperature
topic Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02567