On computing non-equilibrium dynamics following a quench

Computing the non-equilibrium dynamics that follows a quantum quench is difficult, even in exactly solvable models. Results are often predicated on the ability to compute overlaps between the initial state and eigenstates of the Hamiltonian that governs time evolution. Except for a handful of known cases, it is generically not possible to find these overlaps analytically. Here we develop a numerical approach to preferentially generate the states with high overlaps for a quantum quench starting from the ground state or an excited state of an initial Hamiltonian. We use these preferentially generated states, in combination with a "high overlap states truncation scheme" and a modification of the numerical renormalization group, to compute non-equilibrium dynamics following a quench in the Lieb-Liniger model. The method is non-perturbative, works for reasonable numbers of particles, and applies to both continuum and lattice systems. It can also be easily extended to more complicated scenarios, including those with integrability breaking.

Systematic strong coupling expansion for out-of-equilibrium dynamics in the Lieb-Liniger model

We consider the time evolution of local observables after an interaction quench in the repulsive Lieb-Liniger model. The system is initialized in the ground state for vanishing interaction and then time-evolved with the Lieb-Liniger Hamiltonian for large, finite interacting strength c. We employ the Quench Action approach to express the full time evolution of local observables in terms of sums over energy eigenstates and then derive the leading terms of a 1/c expansion for several one and two-point functions as a function of time t>0 after the quantum quench. We observe delicate cancellations of contributions to the spectral sums that depend on the details of the choice of representative state in the Quench Action approach and our final results are independent of this choice. Our results provide a highly non-trivial confirmation of the typicality assumptions underlying the Quench Action approach.