Taking the temperature of a pure quantum state

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2103.16601v3
• Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2022 18:57:11 GMT
• Title: Taking the temperature of a pure quantum state
• Authors: Mark T. Mitchison, Archak Purkayastha, Marlon Brenes, Alessandro Silva, and John Goold
• Abstract summary: Temperature is a deceptively simple concept that still raises deep questions at the forefront of quantum physics research. We propose a scheme to measure the temperature of such pure states through quantum interference.
• Score: 55.41644538483948
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Temperature is a deceptively simple concept that still raises deep questions at the forefront of quantum physics research. The observation of thermalisation in completely isolated quantum systems, such as cold-atom quantum simulators, implies that a temperature can be assigned even to individual, pure quantum states. Here, we propose a scheme to measure the temperature of such pure states through quantum interference. Our proposal involves interferometry of an auxiliary qubit probe, which is prepared in a superposition state and subsequently decoheres due to weak coupling with a closed, thermalised many-body system. Using only a few basic assumptions about chaotic quantum systems -- namely, the eigenstate thermalisation hypothesis and the emergence of hydrodynamics at long times -- we show that the qubit undergoes pure exponential decoherence at a rate that depends on the temperature of its surroundings. We verify our predictions by numerical experiments on a quantum spin chain that thermalises after absorbing energy from a periodic drive. Our work provides a general method to measure the temperature of isolated, strongly interacting systems under minimal assumptions.

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