Quantum quenches in fractonic field theories

TL;DR

This paper investigates the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of fractonic scalar field theories under various quantum quenches, revealing how restricted mobility and symmetry influence their evolution and divergences.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for analyzing quantum quenches in fractonic theories, including regularization methods for divergences and exploration of symmetry effects on dynamics.

Findings

Finite volume perturbations highlight restricted mobility effects.

Generalization to $ abla$-symmetric theories is discussed.

A regularization scheme manages divergences in fractonic models.

Abstract

We study out-of-equilibrium dynamics caused by global quantum quenches in fractonic scalar field theories. We consider several types of quenches, in particular, the mass quench in theories with different types of discrete rotational symmetries ($\mathbb{Z}_4$ and $\mathbb{Z}_8$), as well as an instantaneous quench via the transition between them. We also investigate fractonic boundary quenches, where the initial state is prepared on a finite-width slab in Euclidean time. We find that perturbing a fractonic system in finite volume especially highlights the restricted mobility via the formation and subsequent evolution of specific $\mathbb{Z}_4$-symmetric spatial structures. We discuss a generalization to $\mathbb{Z}_n$-symmetric field theories, and introduce a proper regularization, which allows us to explicitly deal with divergences inherent to fractonic field theories.