Universal constraints on energy flow and SYK thermalization
Abstract We study the dynamics of a quantum system in thermal equilibrium that is suddenly coupled to a bath at a different temperature, a situation inspired by a particular black hole evaporation protocol. We prove a universal positivity bound on the integrated rate of change of the system energy w...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2024-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2024)034 |
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| Summary: | Abstract We study the dynamics of a quantum system in thermal equilibrium that is suddenly coupled to a bath at a different temperature, a situation inspired by a particular black hole evaporation protocol. We prove a universal positivity bound on the integrated rate of change of the system energy which holds perturbatively in the system-bath coupling. Applied to holographic systems, this bound implies a particular instance of the averaged null energy condition. We also study in detail the particular case of two coupled SYK models in the limit of many fermions using the Schwinger-Keldysh non-equilibrium formalism. We solve the resulting Kadanoff-Baym equations both numerically and analytically in various limits. In particular, by going to low temperature, this setup enables a detailed study of the evaporation of black holes in JT gravity. |
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| ISSN: | 1029-8479 |