Marcus Kollar

Nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory and its applications

The study of nonequilibrium phenomena in correlated lattice systems has developed into one of the most active and exciting branches of condensed matter physics. This research field provides rich new insights that could not be obtained from the study of equilibrium situations, and the theoretical understanding of the physics often requires the development of new concepts and methods. On the experimental side, ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopies enable studies of excitation and relaxation phenomena in correlated electron systems, while ultracold atoms in optical lattices provide a new way to control and measure the time evolution of interacting lattice systems with a vastly different characteristic time scale compared to electron systems. A theoretical description of these phenomena is challenging because, first, the quantum-mechanical time evolution of many-body systems out of equilibrium must be computed and second, strong-correlation effects which can be of a nonperturbative nature must be addressed. This review discusses the nonequilibrium extension of the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), which treats quantum fluctuations in the time domain and works directly in the thermodynamic limit. The method reduces the complexity of the calculation via a mapping to a self-consistent impurity problem, which becomes exact in infinite dimensions. Particular emphasis is placed on a detailed derivation of the formalism, and on a discussion of numerical techniques, which enable solutions of the effective nonequilibrium DMFT impurity problem. Insights gained into the properties of the infinite-dimensional Hubbard model under strong nonequilibrium conditions are summarized. These examples illustrate the current ability of the theoretical framework to reproduce and understand fundamental nonequilibrium phenomena, such as the dielectric breakdown of Mott insulators, photodoping, and collapse-and-revival oscillations in quenched systems. Furthermore, remarkable novel phenomena have been predicted by the nonequilibrium DMFT simulations of correlated lattice systems, including dynamical phase transitions and field-induced repulsion-to-attraction conversions.

Thermalization after an Interaction Quench in the Hubbard Model

We use non-equilibrium dynamical mean-field theory to demonstrate the existence of a critical interaction in the real-time dynamics of the Hubbard model after an interaction quench. The critical point is characterized by fast thermalization and separates weak-coupling and strong-coupling regimes in which the relaxation is delayed due to prethermalization on intermediate timescales. This dynamical phase transition should be observable in experiments on trapped fermionic atoms.

Generalized Gibbs ensemble prediction of prethermalization plateaus and their relation to nonthermal steady states in integrable systems

A quantum many-body system which is prepared in the ground state of an integrable Hamiltonian does not directly thermalize after a sudden small parameter quench away from integrability. Rather, it will be trapped in a prethermalized state and can thermalize only at a later stage. We discuss several examples for which this prethermalized state shares some properties with the nonthermal steady state that emerges in the corresponding integrable system. These examples support the notion that nonthermal steady states in integrable systems may be viewed as prethermalized states that never decay further. Furthermore we show that prethermalization plateaus are under certain conditions correctly predicted by generalized Gibbs ensembles, which are the appropriate extension of standard statistical mechanics in the presence of many constants of motion. This establishes that the relaxation behaviors of integrable and nearly integrable systems are continuously connected and described by the same statistical theory.

Nonthermal Steady States after an Interaction Quench in the Falicov-Kimball Model

We present the exact solution of the Falicov-Kimball model after a sudden change of its interaction parameter using nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory. For different interaction quenches between the homogeneous metallic and insulating phases the system relaxes to a nonthermal steady state on time scales on the order of variant Plancks over 2pi/bandwidth, showing collapse and revival with an approximate period of h/interaction if the interaction is large. We discuss the reasons for this behavior and provide a statistical description of the final steady state by means of generalized Gibbs ensembles.

Spin transport in Heisenberg antiferromagnets in two and three dimensions

We analyze spin transport in insulating antiferromagnets described by the XXZ Heisenberg model in two and three dimensions. Spin currents can be generated by a magnetic-field gradient or, in systems with spin-orbit coupling, perpendicular to a time-dependent electric field. The Kubo formula for the longitudinal spin conductivity is derived analogously to the Kubo formula for the optical conductivity of electronic systems. The spin conductivity is calculated within interacting spin-wave theory. In the Ising regime, the XXZ magnet is a spin insulator. For the isotropic Heisenberg model, the dimensionality of the system plays a crucial role: In d=3 the regular part of the spin conductivity vanishes linearly in the zero frequency limit, whereas in d=2 it approaches a finite zero frequency value.

Persistent spin currents in mesoscopic Heisenberg rings

We show that at low temperatures T an inhomogeneous radial magnetic field with magnitude B gives rise to a persistent magnetization current around a mesoscopic ferromagnetic Heisenberg ring. Under optimal conditions, this spin current can be as large as gmicro(B)(T/ variant Plancks over 2pi )exp([-2pi(gmicro(B)B/delta)(1/2)], as obtained from leading-order spin-wave theory. Here g is the gyromagnetic factor, micro(B) is the Bohr magneton, and delta is the energy gap between the ground-state and the first spin-wave excitation. The magnetization current endows the ring with an electric dipole moment.

Ferromagnetism in correlated electron systems: Generalization of Nagaoka's theorem

Nagaoka{close_quote}s theorem on ferromagnetism in the Hubbard model with one electron fewer than half filling is generalized to the case where all possible nearest-neighbor Coulomb interactions (the density-density interaction {ital V}, bond-charge interaction {ital X}, exchange interaction {ital F}, and hopping of double occupancies {ital F}{sup {prime}}) are included. It is shown that for ferromagnetic exchange coupling ({ital F}{approx_gt}0) ground states with maximum spin are stable already at finite Hubbard interaction {ital U}{approx_gt}{ital U}{sub {ital c}}. For nonbipartite lattices this requires a hopping amplitude {ital t}{le}0. For vanishing {ital F} one obtains {ital U}{sub {ital c}}{r_arrow}{infinity} as in Nagaoka{close_quote}s theorem. This shows that the exchange interaction {ital F} is important for stabilizing ferromagnetism at finite {ital U}. Only in the special case {ital X}={ital t} is the ferromagnetic state stable even for {ital F}=0, provided the lattice allows the hole to move around loops. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

Relaxation of a one-dimensional Mott insulator after an interaction quench

We obtain the exact time evolution for the one-dimensional integrable fermionic 1 /r Hubbard model after a sudden change of its interaction parameter, starting from either a metallic or a Mott-insulating eigenstate. In all cases the system relaxes to a new steady state, showing that the presence of the Mott gap does not inhibit relaxation. The properties of the final state are described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble. We discuss under which conditions such ensembles provide the correct statistical description of isolated integrable systems in general. We find that generalized Gibbs ensembles do predict the properties of the steady state correctly, provided that the observables or initial states are sufficiently uncorrelated in terms of the constants of motion.

Metallic ferromagnetism: Progress in our understanding of an old strong-coupling problem

Metallic ferromagnetism is in general an intermediate to strong coupling phenomenon. Since there do not exist systematic analytic methods to investigate such types of problems, the microscopic origin of metallic ferromagnetism is still not sufficiently understood. However, during the last two or three years remarkable progress was made in this field: It is now certain that even in the one-band Hubbard model metallic ferromagnetism is stable in dimensions d=1, 2, and ∞ on regular lattices and at intermediate values of the interaction U and density n. In this paper, the basic questions and recent insights regarding the microscopic conditions favoring metallic ferromagnetism in this model are reviewed. These findings are contrasted with the results for the orbitally degenerate case.

Bound states in the continuum realized in the one-dimensional two-particle Hubbard model with an impurity.

We report a bound state of the one-dimensional two-particle (bosonic or fermionic) Hubbard model with an impurity potential. This state has the Bethe-ansatz form, although the model is nonintegrable. Moreover, for a wide region in parameter space, its energy is located in the continuum band. A remarkable advantage of this state with respect to similar states in other systems is the simple analytical form of the wave function and eigenvalue. This state can be tuned in and out of the continuum continuously.