Equilibration and temperature distribution in a driven ion chain

Abstract

We study the non-equilibrium dynamics and equilibration in a dissipative quantum many-body system—a chain of ions with two points of the chain driven by a thermal bath under different temperatures. Instead of a simple linear temperature gradient (characterized by the local motional excitation) as one expects from a typical classical heat diffusion process, the temperature distribution in the ion chain shows surprisingly rich patterns, which depend on the rate of ion coupling to the bath, the location of driven ions and the dissipation rates of the other ions in the chain. By simulating the temperature evolution, we show that these unusual temperature distribution patterns in the ion chain can be quantitatively tested in experiments within a realistic time scale.