Persistent oscillations after quantum quenches in d dimensions

Abstract

We obtain analytical results for the time evolution of local observables in systems undergoing quantum quenches in d spatial dimensions. For homogeneous systems we show that oscillations undamped in time occur when the state produced by the quench includes single-quasiparticle modes and the observable couples to those modes. In particular, a quench of the transverse field within the ferromagnetic phase of the Ising model produces undamped oscillations of the order parameter when d>1. For the more general case in which the quench is performed only in a subregion of the whole d-dimensional space occupied by the system, the time evolution occurs inside a light cone spreading away from the boundary of the quenched region as time increases. The additional condition for undamped oscillations is that the volume of the quenched region is extensive in all dimensions.