2015/02/28 by Florian Hebenstreit, Debasish Banerjee, Manes Hornung +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.str-el #hep-lat #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.92.035116
published as Phys. Rev. B 92, 035116 (2015) · 28 pages, 11 figures. Revised version: Presentation reorganized and one figure added
arxiv created 2015/07/10 · arxiv updated 2015/07/15
We study the real-time evolution of large open quantum spin systems in two spatial dimensions, whose dynamics is entirely driven by a dissipative coupling to the environment. We consider different dissipative processes and investigate the real-time evolution from an ordered phase of the Heisenberg or XY-model towards a disordered phase at late times, disregarding unitary Hamiltonian dynamics. The corresponding Kossakowski-Lindblad equation is solved via an efficient cluster algorithm. We find that the symmetry of the dissipative process determines the time scales which govern the approach towards a new equilibrium phase at late times. Most notably, we find a slow equilibration if the dissipative process conserves any of the magnetization Fourier modes. In these cases, the dynamics can be interpreted as a diffusion process of the conserved quantity.