Abstract The Nishimori point of the random bond Ising model is a prototype of renormalization group fixed points with strong disorder. We show that the exact correlation length and crossover critical exponents at this point can be identified in two and three spatial dimensions starting from properties of the Nishimori line. These are the first exact exponents for frustrated random magnets, a circumstance to be also contrasted with the fact that the exact exponents of the Ising model without disorder are not known in three dimensions. Our considerations extend to higher dimensions and models other than Ising.
Abstract There is evidence that taking the time average of the work performed by a thermally isolated system effectively ‘transforms’ the adiabatic process into an isothermal one. This approach allows inherent quantities of adiabatic processes to be accessed through the definitions of isothermal processes. A fluctuation theorem is then established, linking the time-averaged work to the quasistatic work. Numerical evidence supporting this equality is provided for a classical harmonic oscillator with a driven linear equilibrium position parameter. Furthermore, the strong inequality for the average work is derived from the deduced fluctuation theorem using optimality arguments.
Abstract There is a current interest in quantum thermodynamics in the context of open quantum systems. An important issue is the consistency of quantum thermodynamics, in particular the second law of thermodynamics, i.e. the flow of heat from a hot reservoir to a cold reservoir. Here recent emphasis has been on composite system and in particular the issue regarding the application of local or global master equations. In order to contribute to this discussion we discuss two cases, namely as an example a single qubit and as a simple composite system two coupled qubits driven by two heat reservoirs at different temperatures, respectively. Applying a global Lindblad master equation approach we present explicit expressions for the heat currents in agreement with the second law of thermodynamics. The analysis is carried out in the Born–Markov approximation. We also discuss issues regarding the possible presence of coherences in the steady state.
We study the lattice random walk dynamics in a heterogeneous space of two media separated by an interface and having different diffusivity and bias. Depending on the position of the interface, there exist two exclusive ways to model the dynamics: (1) Type A dynamics whereby the interface is placed between two lattice points, and (2) Type B dynamics whereby the interface is placed on a lattice point. For both types, we obtain exact results for the one-dimensional generating function of the Green's function or propagator for the composite system in unbounded domain as well as domains confined with reflecting, absorbing, and mixed boundaries. For the case with reflecting confinement in the absence of bias, the steady-state probability shows a step-like behavior for the Type A dynamics, while it is uniform for the Type B dynamics. We also derive explicit expressions for the first-passage probability and the mean first-passage time, and compare the hitting time dependence to a single target. Finally, considering the continuous-space continuous-time limit of the propagator, we obtain the boundary conditions at the interface. At the interface, while the flux is the same, the probability density is discontinuous for Type A and is continuous for Type B. For the latter we derive a generalized version of the so-called leather boundary condition in the appropriate limit.
We study a generalization of the multi-marginal optimal transport problem, which has no fixed number of marginals $N$ and is inspired of statistical mechanics. It consists in optimizing a linear combination of the costs for all the possible $N$'s, while fixing a certain linear combination of the corresponding marginals.
In this work, we study in the framework of the so-called driven tight-binding chain (TBC) the issue of quantum unitary dynamics interspersed at random times with stochastic resets mimicking non-unitary evolution due to interactions with the external environment, The driven TBC involves a quantum particle hopping between the nearest-neighbour sites of a one-dimensional lattice and subject to an external forcing field that is periodic in time. We consider the resets to be taking place at exponentially-distributed random times. Using the method of stochastic Liouville equation, we derive exact results for the probability at a given time for the particle to be found on different sites and averaged with respect to different realizations of the dynamics. We establish the remarkable effect of localization of the TBC particle on the sites of the underlying lattice at long times. The system in the absence of stochastic resets exhibits delocalization of the particle, whereby the particle does not have a time-independent probability distribution of being found on different sites even at long times, and, consequently, the mean-squared displacement of the particle about its initial location has an unbounded growth in time. One may induce localization in the bare model only through tuning the ratio of the strength to the frequency of the field to have a special value, namely, equal to one of the zeros of the zeroth order Bessel function of the first kind. We show here that localization may be induced by a far simpler procedure of subjecting the system to stochastic resets.
Abstract It has been reported that the black hole entropy is modified by an exponential term due to the non-perturbative corrections interpreted as quantum effects. We now find the impact of such modification on the black hole mass and other thermodynamics quantities. We find that the Schwarzschild black hole mass decreased by quantum corrections. Hence, we study exponential corrected thermodynamics and statistics of black holes by computing the partition function. We obtain the particular condition on the event horizon radius to satisfy the Smarr–Gibbs–Duhem relation in the presence of quantum correction. As we know, the Schwarzschild black hole is unstable, while the effect of exponential correction is the stability of 4D Schwarzschild black hole as well as the Schwarzschild-AdS black hole at a small area. On the other hand, a 5D Schwarzschild black hole is completely unstable. The effect of the quantum correction on the Reissner–Nordström black hole is the black thermodynamics instability at quantum scales. Finally, we consider the most general case of charged AdS black hole and study the corrected thermodynamics.
In the context of unitary evolution of a generic quantum system interrupted at random times with non-unitary evolution due to interactions with either the external environment or a measuring apparatus, we adduce a general theoretical framework to obtain the average density operator of the system at any time during the dynamical evolution. The average is with respect to the classical randomness associated with the random time intervals between successive interactions, which we consider to be independent and identically-distributed random variables. We provide two explicit applications of the formalism in the context of the so-called tight-binding model relevant in various contexts in solid-state physics. In one dimension, the corresponding tight-binding chain models the motion of a charged particle between the sites of a lattice, wherein the particle is for most times localized on the sites, but which owing to spontaneous quantum fluctuations tunnels between nearest-neighbour sites. We consider two representative forms of interactions: stochastic reset of quantum dynamics, in which the density operator is at random times reset to its initial form, and projective measurements performed on the system at random times. In the former case, we demonstrate with our exact results how the particle is localized on the sites at long times, leading to a time-independent mean-squared displacement of the particle about its initial location. In the case of projective measurements at random times, we show that repeated projection to the initial state of the particle results in an effective suppression of the temporal decay in the probability of the particle to be found on the initial state. The amount of suppression is comparable to the one in conventional Zeno effect scenarios, but which however does not require performing measurements at exactly regular intervals that are hallmarks of such scenarios.
What happens when a quantum system undergoing unitary evolution in time is subject to repeated projective measurements to the initial state at random times? A question of general interest is: How does the survival probability $S_m$, namely, the probability that an initial state survives even after $m$ number of measurements, behave as a function of $m$? We address these issues in the context of two paradigmatic quantum systems, one, the quantum random walk evolving in discrete time, and the other, the tight-binding model evolving in continuous time, with both defined on a one-dimensional periodic lattice with a finite number of sites $N$. For these two models, we present several numerical and analytical results that hint at the curious nature of quantum measurement dynamics. In particular, we unveil that when evolution after every projective measurement continues with the projected component of the instantaneous state, the average and the typical survival probability decay as an exponential in $m$ for large $m$. By contrast, if the evolution continues with the leftover component, namely, what remains of the instantaneous state after a measurement has been performed, the survival probability exhibits two characteristic $m$ values, namely, $m_1^\star(N) \sim N$ and $m_2^\star(N) \sim N^δ$ with $δ>1$. These scales are such that (i) for $m$ large and satisfying $m < m_1^\star(N)$, the decay of the survival probability is as $m^{-2}$, (ii) for $m$ satisfying $m_1^\star(N) \ll m < m_2^\star(N)$, the decay is as $m^{-3/2}$, while (iii) for $m \gg m_2^\star(N)$, the decay is as an exponential. We find that our results hold independently of the choice of the distribution of times between successive measurements, as have been corroborated by our results for a wide range of distributions. This fact hints at robustness and ubiquity of our derived results.
Abstract We consider a single Brownian particle in one dimension in a medium at a constant temperature in the underdamped regime. We stochastically reset the position of the Brownian particle to a fixed point in the space with a constant rate r whereas its velocity evolves irrespective of the position of the particle and the stochastic resetting mechanism. The nonequilibrium steady state of the position distribution is studied for this model system. Further, we study the distribution of the position of the particle in the finite time and the approach to the nonequilibrium steady state distribution with time. Numerical simulations are done to verify the analytical results.
In this paper, we study the local time spent by an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle at some location till time t. Using the Feynman-Kac formalism, the computation of the moment generating function of the local time can be mapped to the problem of finding the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a quantum particle. We employ quantum perturbation theory to compute the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions in powers of the argument of the moment generating function which particularly help to directly compute the cumulants and correlations among local times spent at different locations. In particular, we obtain explicit expressions of the mean, variance, and covariance of the local times in the presence and in the absence of an absorbing boundary, conditioned on survival. In the absence of absorbing boundaries, we also study large deviations of the local time and compute exact asymptotic forms of the associated large deviation functions explicitly. In the second part of the paper, we extend our study of the statistics of local time of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle to the case not conditioned on survival. In this case, one expects the distribution of the local time to reach a stationary distribution in the large time limit. Computations of such stationary distributions are known in the literature as the problem of first passage functionals. In this paper, we study the approach to this stationary state with time by providing a general formulation for evaluating the moment generating function. From this moment generating function, we compute the cumulants of the local time exhibiting the approach to the stationary values explicitly for a free particle and a Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle. Our analytical results are verified and supported by numerical simulations.
We revisit Fradkin and Raby's real-space renormalization-group method to study the quantum Z_2 gauge theory defined on links forming a two-dimensional square lattice. Following an old suggestion of theirs, a systematic perturbation expansion developed by Hirsch and Mazenko is used to improve the algorithm to second order in an intercell coupling, thereby incorporating the effects of discarded higher energy states. A careful derivation of gauge-invariant effective operators is presented in the Hamiltonian formalism. Renormalization group equations are analyzed near the nontrivial fixed point, reaffirming old work by Hirsch on the dual transverse field Ising model. In addition to recovering Hirsch's previous findings, critical exponents for the scaling of the spatial correlation length and energy gap in the electric free (deconfined) phase are compared. Unfortunately, their agreement is poor. The leading singular behavior of the ground state energy density is examined near the critical point: we compute both a critical exponent and estimate a critical amplitude ratio.
Abstract We investigate simple strategies that embody the decisions that one faces when trying to park near a popular destination. Should one park far from the target (destination), where finding a spot is easy, but then be faced with a long walk, or should one attempt to look for a desirable spot close to the target, where spots may be hard to find? We study an idealized parking process on a one-dimensional geometry where the desired target is located at x = 0, cars enter the system from the right at a rate and each car leaves at a unit rate. We analyze three parking strategies—meek, prudent, and optimistic—and determine which is optimal.
For a model long-range interacting system of classical Heisenberg spins, we study how fluctuations, such as those arising from having a finite system size or through interaction with the environment, affect the dynamical process of relaxation to Boltzmann-Gibbs equilibrium. Under deterministic spin precessional dynamics, we unveil the full range of quasistationary behavior observed during relaxation to equilibrium, whereby the system is trapped in nonequilibrium states for times that diverge with the system size. The corresponding stochastic dynamics, modeling interaction with the environment and constructed in the spirit of the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation, however shows a fast relaxation to equilibrium on a size-independent timescale and no signature of quasistationarity, provided the noise is strong enough. Similar fast relaxation is also seen in Glauber Monte Carlo dynamics of the model, thus establishing the ubiquity of what has been reported earlier in particle dynamics (hence distinct from the spin dynamics considered here) of long-range interacting systems, that quasistationarity observed in deterministic dynamics is washed away by fluctuations induced through contact with the environment.
The voter model is a simple agent-based model to mimic opinion dynamics in social networks: a randomly chosen agent adopts the opinion of a randomly chosen neighbour. This process is repeated until a consensus emerges. Although the basic voter model is theoretically intriguing, it misses an important feature of real opinion dynamics: it does not distinguish between an agent's publicly expressed opinion and her inner conviction. A person may not feel comfortable declaring her conviction if her social circle appears to hold an opposing view. Here we introduce the Concealed Voter Model where we add a second, concealed layer of opinions to the public layer. If an agent's public and concealed opinions disagree, she can reconcile them by either publicly disclosing her previously secret point of view or by accepting her public opinion as inner conviction. We study a complete graph of agents who can choose from two opinions. We define a martingale $M$ that determines the probability of all agents eventually agreeing on a particular opinion. By analyzing the evolution of $M$ in the limit of a large number of agents, we derive the leading-order terms for the mean and standard deviation of the consensus time (i.e. the time needed until all opinions are identical). We thereby give a precise prediction by how much concealed opinions slow down a consensus.