Complex Quantum Systems/Condensed Matter Seminar

Justin Wilson, Caltech

"Remnant Geometric Hall Response in a Quantum Quench"

12:30pm, RLM 11.204

Abstract: Out-of-equilibrium systems can host phenomena that transcend the usual restrictions of equilibrium systems. Here, we unveil how out-of-equilibrium states, prepared via a quantum quench in a two-band system, can exhibit a nonzero Hall-type current—a remnant Hall response—even when the instantaneous Hamiltonian is time reversal symmetric (in contrast to equilibrium Hall currents). Interestingly, the remnant Hall response arises from the coherent dynamics of the wave function that retain a remnant of its quantum geometry post-quench, and can be traced to processes beyond linear response. Quenches in two-band Dirac systems are natural venues for realizing remnant Hall currents, which exist when either mirror or time-reversal symmetry are broken (before or after the quench). Its long time persistence, sensitivity to symmetry breaking, and decoherence-type relaxation processes allow it to be used as a sensitive diagnostic of the complex out-of-equilibrium dynamics readily controlled and probed in cold-atomic optical lattice experiments. In particular, the effect can be realized with either fermions or thermal bosons and we propose an experimental setup involving thermal bosons with spin-orbit coupling which could readily see this effect.