Global and local relaxation of a spin chain under exact Schrödinger and master-equation dynamics

Markus J. Henrich*, Mathias Michel, Michael Hartmann, Günter Mahler, Jochen Gemmer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We solve the Schrödinger equation for an interacting spin chain locally coupled to a quantum environment with a specific degeneracy structure. The reduced dynamics of the whole spin chain as well as of single spins is analyzed. We show that the total spin chain relaxes to a thermal equilibrium state independently of the internal interaction strength. In contrast, the asymptotic states of each individual spin are thermal for weak but nonthermal for stronger spin-spin coupling. The transition between both scenarios is found for couplings of the order of 0.1×ΔE, with ΔE denoting the Zeeman splitting. We compare these results with a master-equation treatment; when time averaged, both approaches lead to the same asymptotic state and finally with analytical results.

Original languageEnglish
Article number026104
JournalPhysical Review E
Volume72
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Statistics and Probability
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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