Exact time-correlation functions of quantum Ising chain in a kicking transversal magnetic field

Abstract

Spectral analysis of the {\em adjoint} propagator in a suitable Hilbert space (and Lie algebra) of quantum observables in Heisenberg picture is discussed as an alternative approach to characterize infinite temperature dynamics of non-linear quantum many-body systems or quantum fields, and to provide a bridge between ergodic properties of such systems and the results of classical ergodic theory. We begin by reviewing some recent analytic and numerical results along this lines. In some cases the Heisenberg dynamics inside the subalgebra of the relevant quantum observables can be mapped explicitly into the (conceptually much simpler) Schr\" odinger dynamics of a single one-(or few)-dimensional quantum particle. The main body of the paper is concerned with an application of the proposed method in order to work out explicitly the general spectral measures and the time correlation functions in {\em a quantum Ising spin 1/2 chain in a periodically kicking transversal magnetic field}, including the results for the simpler autonomous case of a static magnetic field in the appropriate limit. The main result, being a consequence of a purely continuous non-trivial part of the spectrum, is that the general time-correlation functions decay to their saturation values as $t^{-3/2}$.