Exact nonequilibrium dynamics of finite-temperature Tonks-Girardeau gases

Abstract

Describing finite-temperature nonequilibrium dynamics of interacting many-particle systems is a notoriously challenging problem in quantum many-body physics. Here we provide an exact solution to this problem for a system of strongly interacting bosons in one dimension in the Tonks-Girardeau regime of infinitely strong repulsive interactions. Using the Fredholm determinant approach and the Bose-Fermi mapping, we show how the problem can be reduced to a single-particle basis, wherein the finite-temperature effects enter the solution via an effective ``dressing'' of the single-particle wave functions by the Fermi-Dirac occupation factors. We demonstrate the utility of our approach and its computational efficiency in two nontrivial out-of-equilibrium scenarios: collective breathing-mode oscillations in a harmonic trap and collisional dynamics in the Newton's cradle setting involving real-time evolution in a periodic Bragg potential.