The recurrence time in quantum mechanics

Abstract

Generic quantum systems --as much as their classical counterparts-- pass arbitrarily close to their initial state after sufficiently long time. Here we provide an essentially exact computation of such recurrence times for generic non-integrable quantum models. The result is a universal function which depends on just two parameters, an energy scale and the effective dimension of the system. As a by-product we prove that the density of orthogonalization times is zero if at least nine levels are populated and connections with the quantum speed limit are discussed. We also extend our results to integrable, quasi-free fermions. For generic systems the recurrence time is generally doubly exponential in the system volume whereas for the integrable case the dependence is only exponential. The recurrence time can be decreased by several orders of magnitude by performing a small quench close to a quantum critical point. This setup may lead to the experimental observation of such \emph{fast} recurrences.