We consider the low-temperature transport properties of critical one-dimensional systems that can be described, at equilibrium, by a Luttinger liquid. We focus on the prototypical setting where two semi-infinite chains are prepared in two thermal states at small but different temperatures and suddenly joined together. At large distances x and times t, conformal field theory characterizes the energy transport in terms of a single light cone spreading at the sound velocity v. Energy density and current take different constant values inside the light cone, on its left, and on its right, resulting in a three-step form of the corresponding profiles as a function of ζ=x/t. Here, using a nonlinear Luttinger liquid description, we show that for generic observables this picture is spoiled as soon as a nonlinearity in the spectrum is present. In correspondence of the transition points x/t=±v, a novel universal region emerges at infinite times, whose width is proportional to the temperatures on the two sides. In this region, expectation values have a different temperature dependence and show smooth peaks as a function of ζ. We explicitly compute the universal function describing such peaks. In the specific case of interacting integrable models, our predictions are analytically recovered by the generalized hydrodynamic approach.

Universal broadening of the light cone in low-temperature transport / Bertini, Bruno; Piroli, Lorenzo; Calabrese, Pasquale. - In: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS. - ISSN 0031-9007. - 120:17(2018), pp. 1-6. [10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.176801]

Universal broadening of the light cone in low-temperature transport

Bertini, Bruno;Piroli, Lorenzo;Calabrese, Pasquale
2018-01-01

Abstract

We consider the low-temperature transport properties of critical one-dimensional systems that can be described, at equilibrium, by a Luttinger liquid. We focus on the prototypical setting where two semi-infinite chains are prepared in two thermal states at small but different temperatures and suddenly joined together. At large distances x and times t, conformal field theory characterizes the energy transport in terms of a single light cone spreading at the sound velocity v. Energy density and current take different constant values inside the light cone, on its left, and on its right, resulting in a three-step form of the corresponding profiles as a function of ζ=x/t. Here, using a nonlinear Luttinger liquid description, we show that for generic observables this picture is spoiled as soon as a nonlinearity in the spectrum is present. In correspondence of the transition points x/t=±v, a novel universal region emerges at infinite times, whose width is proportional to the temperatures on the two sides. In this region, expectation values have a different temperature dependence and show smooth peaks as a function of ζ. We explicitly compute the universal function describing such peaks. In the specific case of interacting integrable models, our predictions are analytically recovered by the generalized hydrodynamic approach.
2018
120
17
1
6
176801
https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.10096
Bertini, Bruno; Piroli, Lorenzo; Calabrese, Pasquale
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11767/85574
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