Non-equilibrium thermal transport in the quantum Ising chain

TL;DR

This paper investigates the non-equilibrium steady state and energy transfer properties in coupled quantum Ising chains initially at different temperatures, providing insights into quantum thermal transport phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of the non-equilibrium steady state and quantifies energy flux and fluctuations in quantum Ising chains.

Findings

Characterization of the non-equilibrium steady state.

Calculation of mean energy flux.

Derivation of large deviation functions for energy fluctuations.

Abstract

We consider two quantum Ising chains initially prepared at thermal equilibrium but with different temperatures and coupled at a given time through one of their end points. In the long-time limit the system reaches a non-equilibrium steady state. We discuss properties of this non-equilibrium steady state, and characterize the convergence to the steady regime. We compute the mean energy flux through the chain and the large deviation function for the quantum and thermal fluctuations of this energy transfer.