Quantum statistical ensemble for emissive correlated systems

TL;DR

This paper studies the relaxation dynamics of open, strongly interacting quantum systems that emit particles into a vacuum, revealing a Boltzmann-like steady state with sector-dependent temperatures despite the absence of detailed balance.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum statistical ensemble for emissive systems showing Boltzmann distributions with sector-specific temperatures, expanding understanding beyond traditional Gibbs ensembles.

Findings

Steady state exhibits Boltzmann distribution in each particle sector.

Transition rates depend exponentially on energy differences.

The observed properties are likely universal for emissive quantum systems.

Abstract

Relaxation dynamics of complex quantum systems with strong interactions towards the steady state is a fundamental problem in statistical mechanics. The steady state of subsystems weakly interacting with their environment is described by the canonical ensemble which assumes the probability distribution for energy to be of the Boltzmann form. The emergence of this probability distribution is ensured by the detailed balance of the transitions induced by the interaction with the environment. Here we consider relaxation of an open correlated quantum system brought into contact with a reservoir in the vacuum state. We refer to such a system as emissive since particles irreversibly evaporate into the vacuum. The steady state of the system is a statistical mixture of the stable eigenstates arising due to the binding energy. We found that, despite the absence of the detailed balance, the stationary probability distribution over these eigenstates is of the Boltzmann form in each $N$-particle sector. A quantum statistical ensemble corresponding to the steady state is characterized by different temperatures in the different sectors, in a contrast to the Gibbs ensemble. We investigate the transition rates between the eigenstates to understand the emergence of the Boltzmann distribution and find their exponential dependence on the transition energy. We argue that this property of transition rates is generic for a wide class of emissive quantum many-body systems.