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: Ahmed Almheiri, Alexey Milekhin, Brian Swingle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2024-08-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2024)034
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author Ahmed Almheiri
Alexey Milekhin
Brian Swingle
author_facet Ahmed Almheiri
Alexey Milekhin
Brian Swingle
author_sort Ahmed Almheiri
collection DOAJ
description 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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spelling doaj-art-1ea9d002e26e4e8c872740c807f631142025-08-20T02:32:52ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792024-08-012024814310.1007/JHEP08(2024)034Universal constraints on energy flow and SYK thermalizationAhmed Almheiri0Alexey Milekhin1Brian Swingle2Institute for Advanced StudyPhysics Department, Princeton UniversityCondensed Matter Theory Center, Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, Joint Institute for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Department of Physics, University of MarylandAbstract 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.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2024)034Black HolesField Theories in Lower DimensionsQuantum Dissipative Systems
spellingShingle Ahmed Almheiri
Alexey Milekhin
Brian Swingle
Universal constraints on energy flow and SYK thermalization
Journal of High Energy Physics
Black Holes
Field Theories in Lower Dimensions
Quantum Dissipative Systems
title Universal constraints on energy flow and SYK thermalization
title_full Universal constraints on energy flow and SYK thermalization
title_fullStr Universal constraints on energy flow and SYK thermalization
title_full_unstemmed Universal constraints on energy flow and SYK thermalization
title_short Universal constraints on energy flow and SYK thermalization
title_sort universal constraints on energy flow and syk thermalization
topic Black Holes
Field Theories in Lower Dimensions
Quantum Dissipative Systems
url https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2024)034
work_keys_str_mv AT ahmedalmheiri universalconstraintsonenergyflowandsykthermalization
AT alexeymilekhin universalconstraintsonenergyflowandsykthermalization
AT brianswingle universalconstraintsonenergyflowandsykthermalization