Aperiodicity is sufficient for macroscopic thermalization

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2608.13462v1
• Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:44:17 GMT
• Title: Aperiodicity is sufficient for macroscopic thermalization
• Abstract summary: We identify a general mechanism for the finite-time thermalization of macroscopic observables, such as coarse-grained charge densities.<n>We discuss an overall characterization of this approach as establishing connections between (1) the decay of a computable probe indicating memorylessness, (2) a fundamental invariant mechanism in terms of the alignment of observables or states in the Hilbert space, and (3) predicting different natural forms of (classical and) quantum thermalization.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: We identify a general mechanism for the finite-time thermalization of macroscopic observables, such as coarse-grained charge densities, in terms of elementary forms of the quantum dynamics of initial states: (1) aperiodicity, which provides a computable measure of (2) a dynamical partially ergodic exploration of the Hilbert space. Specifically, this mechanism predicts the equilibration of all (concentrated) macroscopic observables, in almost all states in an initial ensemble and almost all times within finite and longer intervals, given only the observable-independent information that the return probability of the ensemble of initial states is small over a finite time range. As a special case, it also accesses standard results on equilibration over infinitely long times in terms of (stronger versions of) the effective dimension of initial state delocalization in the energy eigenbasis. Our results incorporate macroscopic thermalization into the domain of operational quantum statistical mechanics, recently developed to provide finitely computable criteria for microscopic thermalization. We discuss an overall characterization of this approach as establishing connections between (1) the decay of a (theoretically or experimentally) computable probe indicating memorylessness, (2) a fundamental invariant mechanism in terms of the alignment of observables or states in the Hilbert space, and (3) predicting different natural forms of (classical and) quantum thermalization, most of which rigorously recover conventional eigenstate-based descriptions of infinite-time thermalization as a special case but provide stronger accessible predictions over finite observation times in the thermodynamic limit.

Related papers

• Measurement-Induced Dynamical Quantum Thermalization [0.0]
  We study how the measurement of one or more observables subdivides the system into observed and non-observed Hilbert subspaces.<n>We find this to be more generally fulfilled than in the scenario of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH)
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-05-27T00:08:55Z)
• Bypassing eigenstate thermalization with experimentally accessible quantum dynamics [0.0]
  Eigenstate thermalization has played a prominent role as a determiner of the validity of quantum statistical mechanics since von Neumann's early works on quantum ergodicity.<n>Here, we introduce the notion of energy-band thermalization to address limitations, by coarse-graining over energy level spacings with a finite energy resolution.<n>We show that energy-band thermalization implies the thermalization of an observable in almost all states (in any orthonormal basis) over timescales without relying on microscopic properties of the energy eigenvalues or eigenstates.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-03-10T18:00:05Z)
• Thermalization and Criticality on an Analog-Digital Quantum Simulator [133.58336306417294]
  We present a quantum simulator comprising 69 superconducting qubits which supports both universal quantum gates and high-fidelity analog evolution. We observe signatures of the classical Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition, as well as strong deviations from Kibble-Zurek scaling predictions. We digitally prepare the system in pairwise-entangled dimer states and image the transport of energy and vorticity during thermalization.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-05-27T17:40:39Z)
• A Maximum Entropy Principle in Deep Thermalization and in Hilbert-Space Ergodicity [3.404409295403274]
  We report universal statistical properties displayed by ensembles of pure states that naturally emerge in quantum many-body systems. Our results generalize the notions of Hilbert-space ergodicity to time-independent Hamiltonian dynamics and deep thermalization.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-03-18T17:09:04Z)
• Real-time dynamics of false vacuum decay [49.1574468325115]
  We investigate false vacuum decay of a relativistic scalar field in the metastable minimum of an asymmetric double-well potential. We employ the non-perturbative framework of the two-particle irreducible (2PI) quantum effective action at next-to-leading order in a large-N expansion.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-10-06T12:44:48Z)
• Observation of a Prethermal $U(1)$ Discrete Time Crystal [0.0]
  A time crystal is a state of periodically driven matter which breaks discrete time translation symmetry. Recent theoretical work has developed the notion of prethermalization. We show the existence of a long-lived prethermal regime whose lifetime is significantly enhanced by. strengthening an emergent $U(1)$ conservation law.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-03-17T20:30:33Z)
• Observation of partial and infinite-temperature thermalization induced by repeated measurements on a quantum hardware [62.997667081978825]
  We observe partial and infinite-temperature thermalization on a quantum superconducting processor. We show that the convergence does not tend to a completely mixed (infinite-temperature) state, but to a block-diagonal state in the observable basis.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-11-14T15:18:11Z)
• Demonstrating Quantum Microscopic Reversibility Using Coherent States of Light [58.8645797643406]
  We propose and experimentally test a quantum generalization of the microscopic reversibility when a quantum system interacts with a heat bath. We verify that the quantum modification for the principle of microscopic reversibility is critical in the low-temperature limit.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-05-26T00:25:29Z)
• Fast Thermalization from the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis [69.68937033275746]
  Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH) has played a major role in understanding thermodynamic phenomena in closed quantum systems. This paper establishes a rigorous link between ETH and fast thermalization to the global Gibbs state. Our results explain finite-time thermalization in chaotic open quantum systems.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-12-14T18:48:31Z)
• Observation of Time-Crystalline Eigenstate Order on a Quantum Processor [80.17270167652622]
  Quantum-body systems display rich phase structure in their low-temperature equilibrium states. We experimentally observe an eigenstate-ordered DTC on superconducting qubits. Results establish a scalable approach to study non-equilibrium phases of matter on current quantum processors.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-07-28T18:00:03Z)
• Initial-State Dependence of Thermodynamic Dissipation for any Quantum Process [0.0]
  We show new exact results about the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of open quantum systems at arbitrary timescales. For any finite-time process with a fixed initial environment, we show that the contraction of the system's distinction exactly quantifies its thermodynamic dissipation.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-02-26T12:10:10Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.