Quantum Quench in One Dimension: Coherent Inhomogeneity Amplification and ``Supersolitons''

Quantum Quench in One Dimension: Coherent Inhomogeneity Amplification and “Supersolitons”

Matthew S. Foster, Emil A. Yuzbashyan, and Boris L. Altshuler

Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 135701 – Published 23 September 2010

Abstract

We study a quantum quench in a 1D system possessing Luttinger liquid (LL) and Mott insulating ground states before and after the quench, respectively. We show that the quench induces power law amplification in time of any particle density inhomogeneity in the initial LL ground state. The scaling exponent is set by the fractionalization of the LL quasiparticle number relative to the insulator. As an illustration, we consider the traveling density waves launched from an initial localized density bump. While these waves exhibit a particular rigid shape, their amplitudes grow without bound.

Received 19 June 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.135701

Authors & Affiliations

Matthew S. Foster^1,*, Emil A. Yuzbashyan¹, and Boris L. Altshuler²

¹Center for Materials Theory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
²Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA

^*psiborf@rci.rutgers.edu

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Vol. 105, Iss. 13 — 24 September 2010

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