Does a disordered isolated spin system
thermalize?
Matthias Weidemüller
Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg
Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
It is often conjectured, that the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of
generic disordered isolated systems exhibits thermalization. While
this process is notoriously difficult to be treated theoretically,
we can experimentally probe the relaxation dynamics in an isolated
spin system realized by a frozen gas of Rydberg atoms. In my
presentation, I will explain how Rydberg atoms can serve as a
veritable quantum simulator for the dynamics of a disordered spin
system of Ising or Heisenberg type, why this system exhibits
dynamics similar to a spin glass, how the symmetry of the system can
controlled using Floquet Hamiltonian Engineering, and how the
Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis can be tested by exposing the
system to an effective transverse field.