Thermalization in the mixed-field Ising model: An occupation number perspective

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Vallejo-Fabila, Isaías, Borgonovi, Fausto, Izrailev, Felix M., Santos, Lea F.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Vallejo-Fabila, Isaías
Borgonovi, Fausto
Izrailev, Felix M.
Santos, Lea F.
author_facet Vallejo-Fabila, Isaías
Borgonovi, Fausto
Izrailev, Felix M.
Santos, Lea F.
contents The occupation number is a key observable for diagnosing thermalization, as it connects directly to standard statistical laws such as Fermi--Dirac, Bose--Einstein, and Boltzmann distributions. In the context of spin systems, it represents the population of the sublevels of the magnetization in the $z$-direction. We use this quantity to probe the onset of thermalization in the isolated quantum and classical one-dimensional spin-1 Ising model with transverse and longitudinal fields. Thermalization is achieved when the long-time average of the occupation number converges to the microcanonical prediction as the chain length $L$ increases, consistent with the emergence of ergodicity. However, the finite-size scaling analysis in the quantum model is challenged by the exponential growth of the Hilbert space with $L$. To overcome this limitation, we turn to the corresponding classical model, which enables access to much larger system sizes. By tracking the dynamics of individual spins on their three-dimensional Bloch spheres and employing tools from random matrix theory, we establish a quantitative criterion for classical ergodicity in interacting spin systems. We find that deviations from classical ergodicity decay algebraically with system size. This power-law scaling then provides a quantitative bound on the approach to thermal equilibrium in the quantum model.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_02497
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Thermalization in the mixed-field Ising model: An occupation number perspective
Vallejo-Fabila, Isaías
Borgonovi, Fausto
Izrailev, Felix M.
Santos, Lea F.
Statistical Mechanics
The occupation number is a key observable for diagnosing thermalization, as it connects directly to standard statistical laws such as Fermi--Dirac, Bose--Einstein, and Boltzmann distributions. In the context of spin systems, it represents the population of the sublevels of the magnetization in the $z$-direction. We use this quantity to probe the onset of thermalization in the isolated quantum and classical one-dimensional spin-1 Ising model with transverse and longitudinal fields. Thermalization is achieved when the long-time average of the occupation number converges to the microcanonical prediction as the chain length $L$ increases, consistent with the emergence of ergodicity. However, the finite-size scaling analysis in the quantum model is challenged by the exponential growth of the Hilbert space with $L$. To overcome this limitation, we turn to the corresponding classical model, which enables access to much larger system sizes. By tracking the dynamics of individual spins on their three-dimensional Bloch spheres and employing tools from random matrix theory, we establish a quantitative criterion for classical ergodicity in interacting spin systems. We find that deviations from classical ergodicity decay algebraically with system size. This power-law scaling then provides a quantitative bound on the approach to thermal equilibrium in the quantum model.
title Thermalization in the mixed-field Ising model: An occupation number perspective
topic Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.02497