Interaction-impeded relaxation in the presence of finite-temperature baths

Abstract

We study the interplay between interactions and finite-temperature dephasing baths. We consider a double well with strongly interacting bosons coupled, via the density, to a bosonic bath. Such a system, when the bath has infinite temperature and instantaneous decay of correlations, relaxes with an emerging algebraic behavior with exponent 1/2. Here we show that, because of the finite-temperature baths and of the choice of spectral densities, such an algebraic relaxation may occur for a shorter duration and the characteristic exponent can be lower than 1/2. These results show that the interaction-induced impeding of relaxation is stronger and more complex when the bath has finite temperature and/or nonzero timescale for the decay of correlations.