Quantum quenches in closed and open spin chains: a thesis in two parts

Thesis

This thesis is concerned with three studies of far from equilibrium dynamics in quantum spin chains. In all cases the nonequilibrium dynamics is generated by a protocol called a ‘quantum quench’, describing the time evolution after a sudden change in system parameters. Part A is concerned with closed systems, meaning those isolated from their environment and begins with Chapter 1, which introduces the quench protocol and motivates the study of quantum quenches through examples of its exper...

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Authors: Robertson, J

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-d5pxbgyjj
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: beyond mean field theory; mean field theory; exact solutions; open systems; quantum quench; free fermions; nonequilibrium; statistical physics; theoretical physics; quantum mechanics; spin chains
• Subjects: Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics; Quantum theory