Nonequilibrium quantum dynamics of many-body systems

Lea F. Santos, E. Jonathan Torres-Herrera

Published 2017-06-07Version 1

We review our results for the dynamics of isolated many-body quantum systems described by one-dimensional spin-1/2 models. We explain how the evolution of these systems depends on the initial state and strength of perturbation that takes them out of equilibrium; on the Hamiltonian, whether it is integrable or chaotic; and on the onset of multifractal eigenstates that take places in the vicinity of the transition to a many-body localized phase. We unveil different behaviors at different time scales. We also discuss how information about the spectrum of a many-body quantum system can be extracted by the sole analysis of its time evolution. This approach is useful for experiments that routinely study dynamics, but have limited or no direct access to spectroscopy, as experiments with cold atoms, trapped ions, and nuclear magnetic resonance.