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Cited by 441

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 28 of the 28 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Local emergence of thermal correlations in an isolated quantum many-body system

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Langen, T., Geiger, R., Kuhnert, M., Rauer, B., Schmiedmayer, J.·2013·Nature Physics
DOI 10.1038/nphys2739
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Abstract

The relaxation mechanisms of isolated quantum many-body systems are insufficiently understood, but a one-dimensional quantum gas experiment uncovers the local emergence of thermal correlations and their cone-like propagation through the system. Understanding the dynamics of isolated quantum many-body systems is a central open problem at the intersection between statistical physics and quantum physics. Despite important theoretical effort1, no generic framework exists yet to understand when and how an isolated quantum system relaxes to a steady state. Regarding the question of how, it has been conjectured2,3 that equilibration must occur on a local scale in systems where correlations between distant points can establish only at a finite speed. Here, we provide the first experimental observation of this local equilibration hypothesis. In our experiment, we quench a one-dimensional Bose gas by coherently splitting it into two parts. By monitoring the phase coherence between the two parts we observe that the thermal correlations of a prethermalized state4,5 emerge locally in their final form and propagate through the system in a light-cone-like evolution. Our results underline the close link between the propagation of correlations 2,3,6,7 and relaxation processes in quantum many-body systems.

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Metadata

Authors
Langen, T., Geiger, R., Kuhnert, M., Rauer, B., & Schmiedmayer, J.
Venue
Nature Physics
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2013-09-08
Volume
9
Issue
10
Pages
640-643
ISSN
  • 1745-2473 (ISSN-L)
  • 1745-2481
DOI
10.1038/nphys2739
OpenAlex
W2028770252
Cited by
441
References
28
FWCI
22.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
bronze

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Local emergence of thermal correlations in an isolated quantum many-body system. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1038/nphys2739
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Langen, T., Geiger, R., Kuhnert, M., Rauer, B., & Schmiedmayer, J. (2013). Local emergence of thermal correlations in an isolated quantum many-body system. Nature Physics. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2739

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