Universal transport dynamics in a quenched tunnel-coupled Luttinger liquid

TL;DR

This paper studies the non-equilibrium transport behavior of a Luttinger liquid after a sudden interaction quench, revealing universal transient decay and steady-state ohmic conduction due to quench-induced excitations.

Contribution

It demonstrates the universal power-law decay in tunneling current during transient dynamics and explains the steady-state behavior as quench-activated heating, highlighting novel quenched Luttinger liquid dynamics.

Findings

Universal power-law decay in tunneling current after a quench

Steady state exhibits ohmic conduction due to quench-induced heating

Distinct from non-quenched Luttinger liquids, revealing unconventional dynamics

Abstract

The transport dynamics of a quenched Luttinger liquid tunnel-coupled to a fermionic reservoir is investigated. In the transient dynamics, we show that for a sudden quench of the electron interaction universal power-law decay in time of the tunneling current occurs, ascribed to the presence of entangled compound excitations created by the quench. In sharp contrast to the usual non universal power-law behavior of a zero-temperature non-quenched Luttinger liquid, the steady state tunneling current is ohmic and can be explained in terms of an effective quench-activated heating of the system. Our study unveils an unconventional dynamics for a quenched Luttinger liquid that could be identified in quenched cold Fermi gases.