Emergent Prethermalization Signatures in Out-of-Time Ordered Correlations
Author(s)
Wei, Ken Xuan; Peng, Pai; Shtanko, Oles; Marvian, Iman; Lloyd, Seth; Ramanathan, Chandrasekhar; Cappellaro, Paola; ... Show more Show less
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How a many-body quantum system thermalizes—or fails to do so—under its own interaction is a fundamental yet elusive concept. Here we demonstrate nuclear magnetic resonance observation of the emergence of prethermalization by measuring out-of-time ordered correlations. We exploit Hamiltonian engineering techniques to tune the strength of spin-spin interactions and of a transverse magnetic field in a spin chain system, as well as to invert the Hamiltonian sign to reveal out-of-time ordered correlations. At large fields, we observe an emergent conserved quantity due to prethermalization, which can be revealed by an early saturation of correlations. Our experiment not only demonstrates a new protocol to measure out-of-time ordered correlations, but also provides new insights in the study of quantum thermodynamics.
Date issued
2019-08-30Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and EngineeringPublisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 090605 (2019)
Version: Final published version