Bridging two quantum quench problems -- local joining quantum quench and M\"obius quench -- and their holographic dual descriptions

Abstract

We establish an equivalence between two different quantum quench problems, the joining local quantum quench and the M\"obius quench, in the context of $(1+1)$-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT). Here, in the former, two initially decoupled systems (CFTs) on finite intervals are joined at $t=0$. In the latter, we consider the system that is initially prepared in the ground state of the regular homogeneous Hamiltonian on a finite interval and, after $t=0$, let it time-evolve by the so-called M\"obius Hamiltonian that is spatially inhomogeneous. The equivalence allows us to relate the time-dependent physical observables in one of these problems to those in the other. As an application of the equivalence, we construct a holographic dual of the M\"obius quench from that of the local quantum quench. The holographic geometry involves an end-of-the-world brane whose profile exhibits non-trivial dynamics.