Accelerated gap collapse in a Slater antiferromagnet

TL;DR

This paper investigates the non-equilibrium relaxation dynamics of antiferromagnetic order in the Hubbard model after an interaction quench, revealing a nonlinear speedup in gap collapse and potential self-stabilization of non-thermal order.

Contribution

It introduces a convergent method to study long-time dynamics of prethermal states and uncovers nonlinear relaxation behavior not explained by simple Fermi's golden rule.

Findings

Prethermal state characterized by a slow variable related to conduction band population.

Nonlinear relaxation with a speedup once the gap drops below a threshold.

Self-stabilization of non-thermal order on certain timescales.

Abstract

We study the melting of long-range antiferromagnetic order in the Hubbard model after an interaction quench, using non-equilibrium dynamical mean-field theory. From previous studies, the system is known to quickly relax into a prethermal symmetry-broken state. Using a convergent truncation of the memory integrals in the Kadanoff Baym equations, we unravel the subsequent relaxation dynamics of this state over several orders of magnitude in time. At long times, the prethermal state can be characterized by a single slow variable which is related to the conduction band population. The dynamics of this variable does not follow the paradigmatic steady relaxation of pre-thermal states: It is highly nonlinear, with a pronounced speedup once the gap falls below a certain value. This behavior indicates that non-thermal order can be self-stabilized on some timescale. It is not reproduced using simple Fermi's golden rule estimate for the evolution of the conduction band population.