Freiburg 2019 – scientific programme

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FM: Fall Meeting

FM 56: Entanglement: Many-Body Dynamics II

FM 56.4: Talk

Wednesday, September 25, 2019, 15:00–15:15, 2004

Emergent Glassy Dynamics in a Quantum Dimer Model — •Johannes Feldmeier, Frank Pollmann, and Michael Knap — Department of Physics, Technical University of Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany

We consider the quench dynamics of a two-dimensional quantum dimer model and determine the role of its kinematic constraints. We interpret the non-equilibrium dynamics in terms of the underlying equilibrium phase transitions consisting of a BKT-transition between a columnar ordered valence bond solid (VBS) and a valence bond liquid (VBL), as well as a first order transition between a staggered VBS and the VBL. We find that quenches from a columnar VBS are ergodic and both order parameters and spatial correlations quickly relax to their thermal equilibrium. By contrast, the staggered side of the first order transition does not display thermalization on numerically accessible timescales. Based on the model's kinematic constraints, we uncover a mechanism of relaxation that rests on emergent, highly detuned multi-defect processes in a staggered background, which gives rise to slow, glassy dynamics at low temperatures even in the thermodynamic limit.