Abstract
We study the problem of a quantum quench in which the initial state is the ground state ofan inhomogeneous Hamiltonian, in two different models, conformal field theory andordinary free field theory, which are known to exhibit thermalization of finite regions in thehomogeneous case. We derive general expressions for the evolution of the energy flow andcorrelation functions, as well as the entanglement entropy in the conformal case.Comparison of the results from the two approaches in the regime of their common validityshows agreement up to a point further discussed. Unlike for the thermal analogue, theevolution in our problem is non-diffusive and can be physically interpreted using anintuitive picture of quasiparticles emitted from the initial time hypersurface andpropagating semiclassically.
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