Particle Production, Equilibration, and Quantum Recurrences from Classical Fields

Abstract

We investigate particle production from classical fields, a phenomenon central to the pre-equilibrium dynamics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions and the reheating epoch of the early Universe. Using lattice $λϕ^4$ theory as a proof of principle, we show that this problem is naturally amenable to quantum computation, providing a first-principles framework for nonequilibrium quantum-field dynamics beyond existing approximations. We perform simulations on small spatial lattices, exhausting our available classical computational resources while maintaining a direct mapping to future quantum-computing implementations. We find that particle production is accompanied by equilibration of observables, including the field expectation value, occupation-number distribution, and pressure. The observed equilibration persists for timescales several times longer than the initial equilibration time before the observables resume oscillatory behavior associated with quantum Poincaré recurrences. Our results establish a route toward first-principles studies of equilibration in nonequilibrium quantum field theory and provide insight into the search for the smallest possible locally equilibrated quark-gluon systems at hadron colliders.