Dissipation in spin chains using quantized nonequilibrium thermodynamics

Abstract

We investigate the open dynamics of a chain of interacting spins using the quantized version of the general equation for the nonequilibrium reversible-irreversible coupling equation from classical out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics. We focus on both equilibrium and nonequilibrium scenarios for chains of different sizes. Whereas in the equilibrium case we demonstrate thermal equilibration to the correct many-body Gibbs density matrix, in the nonequilibrium dynamics we show a ballistic-to-diffusive transition in the steady-state energy current and a scaling that is consistent with Fourier's law of heat transfer.