UvA - DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Relaxation dynamics in the gapped XXZ spin - 1 / 2 chain

We study the dynamics of a quench-prepared domain wall state released into a system whose unitary time evolution is dictated by the Hamiltonian of the Heisenberg spin-1/2 gapped antiferromagnetic chain. Using exact wavefunctions and their overlaps with the domain wall state allows us to describe the release dynamics to high accuracy, up to the long-time limit, for finite as well as infinite systems. The results for the infinite system allow us to rigorously prove that the system in the gapped regime (1> 1) cannot thermalize in the strict sense. 1 Authors to whom any correspondence should be addressed. New Journal of Physics 12 (2010) 055028 1367-2630/10/055028+21$30.00 © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft 2