Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving
Published on: March 30, 2017
Thermalization after an interaction quench in the Hubbard model.
Martin Eckstein1, Marcus Kollar, Philipp Werner
1Theoretical Physics III, Center for Electronic Correlations and Magnetism, Institute for Physics, University of Augsburg, 86135 Augsburg, Germany.
We studied the fermionic Hubbard model after an interaction quench. The system gets trapped in long-lived states, except near a critical point where it rapidly thermalizes, indicating a dynamical phase transition.
Area of Science:
- Condensed matter physics
- Quantum mechanics
- Many-body systems
Background:
- The fermionic Hubbard model describes interacting electrons in a lattice.
- Understanding the time evolution of quantum systems after perturbations is crucial.
- Dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) is a powerful tool for studying strongly correlated systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the time evolution of the fermionic Hubbard model after an interaction quench.
- To identify and characterize dynamical phase transitions in this model.
- To explore the behavior of the system in weak- and strong-coupling regimes.
Main Methods:
- Nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT).
- Simulation of the fermionic Hubbard model.
- Analysis of system dynamics across different coupling strengths.
Main Results:
- The system gets trapped in quasistationary states on intermediate timescales in both weak- and strong-coupling regimes.
- A sharp crossover is observed at U(c)dyn=0.8 (in units of bandwidth), marking a transition point.
- Fast thermalization occurs at this critical point, suggesting a dynamical phase transition.
Conclusions:
- A dynamical phase transition exists in the fermionic Hubbard model after an interaction quench.
- This transition is characterized by a crossover to fast thermalization at a critical interaction strength.
- The findings are relevant for experiments with trapped fermionic atoms.
Related Concept Videos
Path Between Thermodynamics States
Thermodynamics: Activity Coefficient
The activity coefficient is a measure of the deviation from ideal behavior. When the ionic strength of the solution is minimal, the activity coefficient of an ionic species is close to unity, making...
Thermal Sigmatropic Reactions: Overview
Sigmatropic shifts are classified based on an order term [i, j ], where i and j indicate the number of atoms across which each end of the σ bond migrates. Below are examples of a [3,3] sigmatropic shift in 1,5-hexadiene, referred to as...
Radical Halogenation: Thermodynamics
The Thermodynamics of Mixing
Heat Capacities of an Ideal Gas III
