Quench dynamics in topologically non-trivial quantum many-body systems

TL;DR

This paper studies how topologically non-trivial quantum systems respond to sudden parameter changes, revealing that edge states significantly influence their nonequilibrium dynamics and decay behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis showing that edge states, rather than total particles, dominate the quench dynamics in topological quantum systems.

Findings

Edge states govern the decay of the orthogonality catastrophe.

The dynamics depend on the number of occupied edge states.

Work distribution analysis provides insight into the system's behavior.

Abstract

We investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of a groundstate fermionic many body gas subjected to a quench between parameter regimes of a topologically nontrivial Hamiltonian. By focusing on the role of the chiral edge states inherent to the system, we calculate the many body overlap and show that the characteristic monotonic decay of the orthogonality catastrophe with increasing system size is notably altered. Specifically, we demonstrate that the dynamics are governed not solely by the total particle number but rather by the number of occupied single particle edge states. This behavior is further explained through an analysis of the full work probability distribution, providing a deeper understanding of the system's dynamics.