A Note on Adiabatic Time Evolution and Quasi-Static Processes in Translation-Invariant Quantum Systems

Abstract

We study the slowly varying, non-autonomous quantum dynamics of a translation-invariant spin or fermion system on the lattice $$\mathbb {Z}^d$$ . This system is assumed to be initially in thermal equilibrium, and we consider realizations of quasi-static processes in the adiabatic limit. By combining the Gibbs variational principle with the notion of quantum weak Gibbs states introduced in Jakšić et al. (Approach to equilibrium in translation-invariant quantum systems: some structural results, in the present issue of Ann. H. Poincaré, 2023), we establish a number of general structural results regarding such realizations. In particular, we show that such a quasi-static process is incompatible with the property of approach to equilibrium studied in this previous work.