Old and new scaling laws in quantum quench

Abstract

The response of a many-body system to a time-dependent coupling which passes through or approaches a critical point displays universal scaling behavior. In some regimes, scaling laws have been known since the 1970s. Recently, holographic techniques have been used to understand the origins of such scaling. Along the way, new scaling behaviors in other regimes have been found in holographic models, which have later been shown to hold in a generic field theory regardless of holography. This contribution summarizes recent work on these various scaling regimes.