Finite-temperature transport in one-dimensional quantum lattice models

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed an impressive progress in the theoretical understanding of transport properties of clean, one-dimensional quantum lattice systems. Many physically relevant models in one dimension are Bethe-ansatz integrable, including the anisotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg (also called spin-1/2 XXZ chain) and the Fermi-Hubbard model. Nevertheless, practical computations of, for instance, correlation functions and transport coefficients pose hard problems from both the conceptual and technical point of view. Only due to recent progress in the theory of integrable systems on the one hand and due to the development of numerical methods on the other hand has it become possible to compute their finite temperature and nonequilibrium transport properties quantitatively. Most importantly, due to the discovery of a novel class of quasilocal conserved quantities, there is now a qualitative understanding of the origin of ballistic finite-temperature transport, and even diffusive or super-diffusive subleading corrections, in integrable lattice models. We shall review the current understanding of transport in one-dimensional lattice models, in particular, in the paradigmatic example of the spin-1/2 XXZ and Fermi-Hubbard models, and we elaborate on state-of-the-art theoretical methods, including both analytical and computational approaches. Among other novel techniques, we discuss matrix-product-states based simulation methods, dynamical typicality, and, in particular, generalized hydrodynamics. We will discuss the close and fruitful connection between theoretical models and recent experiments, with examples from both the realm of quantum magnets and ultracold quantum gases in optical lattices.