Approach to Equilibrium in Translation-Invariant Quantum Systems: Structural Results II

Abstract

We continue the development, started in [AHP 25 (2023), 715-749], of a structural theory of approach to equilibrium in translation-invariant quantum spin systems. Dynamical Steady States (DSS) are defined as w*-limit points of the time-averaged evolution of an initial state. We show that if a DSS is an equilibrium state of a sufficiently regular interaction, then the specific energy of this interaction is necessarily a constant of the motion. Two distinct mechanisms lead to this conclusion, one based on dynamical surface energies and the other on conservation of specific relative entropy. We conjecture that these properties hold for a natural class of interactions. For a DSS admitting a physical equilibrium description, the associated equilibrium states are characterized by a dynamical Gibbs variational principle: they are precisely the minimizers of the specific relative entropy from the initial state over the physical equilibrium states. The achieved minimum equals the increase of specific entropy. The structural theory also yields characterizations of approach to thermal equilibrium, based on two model-dependent questions: restoration of a sufficiently local thermodynamic description at large times and classification of the corresponding local constants of motion. Once locality is restored, the constants of motion determine the possible asymptotic equilibrium states. In particular, if finite-range locality is restored and the energy is the only finite-range constant of the motion, then every DSS is a thermal equilibrium state at the temperature fixed by energy conservation. The finite-time dynamical input underlying this theory is established in a companion paper.