Quantum thermalization, Hydrodynamics and Gravity

Jun 1, 2026, 9:00 AM → Jun 5, 2026, 8:00 PM Asia/Tokyo

Panasonic Auditorium, Yukawa Hall (YITP, Kyoto University)

Taishi Kawamoto (Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (Kyoto University from next Aprile)), Masataka Watanabe (Nagoya University), Rathindra Nath Das, Shoki Sugimoto, Hideaki Nishikawa, Tadashi Takayanagi (Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University)

Schedule and Venue

June 1-5, 2026 

Panasonic Auditorium, Yukawa Hall, YITP, Kyoto University, Japan

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Scope

Non-equilibrium physics, compared to the equilibrium counterpart, has so far remained as an obvious frontier in physics. While the topic is considered difficult due to the lack of systematic methods of analysis, developing such methods would be extremely desirable. It will not only deepen our view on the world around us but could even enable diverse industrial applications.

Recently, there has been a surge of new ideas and techniques across various areas of physics related to non-equilibrium phenomena such fields include quantum many-body chaos, hydrodynamics, and surprisingly, quantum gravity. Moreover, these ideas seem to be mutually connected, hinting at an emergence of a more systematic understanding, for example, in the name of effective field theories and black holes.

Despite this, there has only been a few attempts at unifying our understanding of non-equilibrium phenomena across various fields. The purpose of the proposed conference is to tackle this; to share ideas and foster collaboration among different fields, so that we will develop a new systematic and quantitative method of studying non-equilibrium physics.

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Confirmed Speakers (invited)

Ryusuke Hamazaki (RIKEN)

Michal P. Heller (Ghent University and Jagiellonian University)

Alexander Altland (University of Cologne)

Bruno Bertini (University of Birmingham)

Hugo A. Camargo
 (National Center for Theoretical Sciences)

Masaru Hongo (Niigata University)

Jong Yeon Lee (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Chihiro Matsui (The University of Tokyo)

Shiraz Minwalla (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research)

Kazuaki Takasan (The University of Tokyo)

Anatoly Dymarsky (University of Kentucky) [online]

 

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Contributing Talks and Poster 

 We will have contributing talks and Posters.  The registration for talks and posters are close in 25th March. (CLOSED. the registration without talks and visa is open up to 20th Apr. in JST time)

 

 

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Organizers

Taishi Kawamoto (Kyoto University) 
Masataka Watanabe (The University of Tokyo) 
Shoki Sugimoto (The University of Tokyo) 
Rathindra Nath Das (Weizmann, MIT, Würzburg) 
Hideaki Nishikawa (RIKEN center of Quantum Computing) 
Tadashi Takayanagi (YITP)

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About this workshop

This workshop is "YITP International Workshop Led by Young Researchers" supported by YITP. 

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Acknowledgement

If your research was benefitted from discussions/talks/new collaborations during this workshop, please acknowledge YITP.

Example:
The authors thank Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics at Kyoto University.
 

 

Mon, June 1

9:20 AM → 9:30 AM Opening

9:30 AM → 10:30 AM Tutorial Lecture: TBA

TBA

Convener: Ryusuke Hamazaki (RIKEN)

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee Break

11:00 AM → 12:00 PM TBA

TBA

Speaker: Chihiro Matsui (The University of Tokyo)

12:00 PM → 12:15 PM Short break

12:15 PM → 12:45 PM Systematic construction of asymptotic quantum many-body scar states and their relation to supersymmetric quantum mechanics

Quantum many-body scar (QMBS) states, which are special energy eigenstates that violate the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in nonintegrable systems, have attracted much attention. Recently, asymptotic quantum many-body scar (AQMBS) states, which are closely related to QMBS states, have been proposed [1]. AQMBS states exhibit nonergodic behavior because their energy variance vanishes in the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, AQMBS states are related to Nambu-Goldstone modes, indicating a connection between thermalization in isolated quantum systems and spontaneous symmetry breaking [2]. However, existing constructions of AQMBS states are heuristic, and a systematic method for constructing them has not yet been established. In this work, we propose a systematic framework for constructing AQMBS states [3]. Within this framework, we assume a restricted spectrum-generating algebra [4,5], a symmetry-based formalism [6], and a specific structure of the Hamiltonian. Under these assumptions, AQMBS states arise as low-energy gapless excitations of a parent Hamiltonian whose ground states are QMBS states. Furthermore, we find that the algebraic relations of N=2 supersymmetric quantum mechanics naturally emerge in systems satisfying these assumptions. In this seminar, I will present the details of the method and its applications to several models.
[1]L. Gotta et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 190401 (2023).
[2]J. Ren et al., Phys. Rev. B 110, 245101 (2024).
[3]MK, Y. Kato, and H. Katsura, Phys. Rev. Res. 7, 043107 (2025).
[4]D. K. Mark et al, Phys. Rev. B 101, 195131 (2020).
[5]S. Moudgalya et al, Phys. Rev. B 102, 085140 (2020).
[6]N. O'Dea et al, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 043305 (2020).

Speaker: Masaya Kunimi (Tokyo University of Science)

12:45 PM → 2:30 PM Lunch

2:30 PM → 3:30 PM Tutorial Lecture: TBA

Convener: Michal P. Heller (Ghent University and Jagiellonian University)

3:30 PM → 4:00 PM Coffee Break

4:00 PM → 4:30 PM Fluctuation-response inequality and gravity

The fluctuation–response inequality (FRI), proposed by Dechant and Sasa, is a general relation between fluctuations and responses in nonequilibrium systems. For instance, the FRI states that the ratio of the effective temperature to the differential mobility of a test particle in a thermal bath is a non-decreasing function of the particle’s velocity. In this work, we compute both the effective temperature and the differential mobility of a probe in a thermal bath using gauge/gravity duality in various gravitational backgrounds. We find that the FRI is satisfied in most setups consistent with superstring theory, with the exception of a few ill-defined cases. We also discuss how the geometry on the gravity side is constrained by the FRI.

Speaker: Shin Nakamura (Chuo University)

Tue, June 2

9:30 AM → 10:30 AM Tutorial Lecture: TBA

Convener: Michal P. Heller (Ghent University and Jagiellonian University)

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee Break

11:00 AM → 12:00 PM TBA

TBA

Speaker: Hugo A. Camargo (National Center for Theoretical Sciences, Physics Division)

12:00 PM → 12:15 PM Short break

12:15 PM → 12:45 PM A holographic prescription for dissipative hydrodynamical actions and horizon symmetries

The last decade has seen significant interest in dissipative hydrodynamical actions in the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. However there remain very few examples where such actions can be explicitly constructed. I will present a novel prescription that allows, for the first time, one to consistently compute such actions for holographic quantum field theories in general bulk dimension. The explicit construction of such actions allows us to test conjectured relations between hydrodynamical actions and quantum chaos – in particular I will discuss to what extent such actions realise horizon symmetries previously argued for by Knysh, Liu & Pinzani-Fokeeva.

Speaker: Michael Blake (University of Bristol (UK))

12:45 PM → 2:30 PM Lunch

2:30 PM → 3:30 PM Tutorial Lecture: TBA

Convener: Ryusuke Hamazaki (RIKEN)

3:30 PM → 4:00 PM Coffee Break

4:00 PM → 4:30 PM Second law of thermodynamics in closed quantum many-body systems

The second law of thermodynamics for adiabatic operations --- constraints on state transitions in closed systems under external control --- is one of the fundamental principles of thermodynamics. On the other hand, recent studies of thermalization have established that even pure quantum states can represent thermal equilibrium. However, pure quantum states do not satisfy the second law in that they are not passive, i.e., work can be extracted from them if arbitrary unitary operations are allowed, and that various entropy formulas, such as the von Neumann entropy, deviate from thermodynamic entropy in such states. It therefore remains unresolved how thermal equilibrium represented by a pure quantum state can be reconciled with thermodynamics. Here, based on our key quantum-mechanical notions of thermal equilibrium and adiabatic operations, we address the emergence of the second law of thermodynamics in closed quantum many-body systems. We first introduce infinite-observable macroscopic thermal equilibrium (iMATE); a quantum state, including pure states, is said to represent iMATE if the expectation values of all additive observables, which correspond to additive quantities in thermodynamics, agree with their equilibrium values. We also introduce a macroscopic operation as unitary evolution generated by a time-dependent additive Hamiltonian, which is regarded as corresponding to adiabatic operations. Employing these concepts, we show Planck's principle: no extensive work can be extracted from any quantum state representing iMATE through any macroscopic operations with the operation times independent of the system size. Furthermore, we introduce a quantum-mechanical form of entropy density such that it agrees with thermodynamic entropy density for any quantum state representing iMATE. We then prove the law of increasing entropy: for any initial state representing iMATE, this entropy density cannot be decreased by any macroscopic operations with the operation times independent of the system size, followed by a relaxation process governed by a time-independent Hamiltonian. Our theory thus proves two different forms of the second law, which are quantum mechanically inequivalent to each other, and demonstrates how thermodynamics emerges from quantum mechanics by adopting macroscopically reasonable classes of observables, equilibrium states, and operations. This presentation is based on arXiv:2602.06657.

Speaker: Yuuya Chiba (RIKEN)

4:30 PM → 6:30 PM Poster Talk: Poster Talk 1

Poster Talk

Wed, June 3

9:30 AM → 10:30 AM TBA

TBA

Speaker: Jong Yeon Lee (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee Break

11:00 AM → 12:00 PM TBA

TBA

Speaker: Alexander Altland (University of Cologne)

12:00 PM → 12:20 PM Group Photo (If it is sunny day)

12:20 PM → 2:30 PM Lunch

2:30 PM → 4:30 PM Poster Talk: Poster 2

Poster Talk

5:00 PM → 7:00 PM Banquet

@ U.Cafeteria

Thu, June 4

9:30 AM → 10:30 AM TBA (online)

TBA

Speaker: Anatoly Dymarsky (University of Kentucky)

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee Break

11:00 AM → 12:00 PM TBA

TBA

Speaker: Shiraz Minwalla (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research)

12:00 PM → 12:15 PM Short Break

12:15 PM → 12:45 PM Quantum Mpemba effect in holography

The Mpemba effect is a counterintuitive phenomenon in which hotter substances cool down faster. This phenomenon can be observed under limited conditions. On the other hand, the quantum Mpemba effect (QME) is quantum analogue of it by replacing the temperature with other quantities. The QME may have various origins but it is helpful if we can understand its common mechanism. To shed light on it, we investigate the emergence of the QME by analyzing time evolution in the bottom-up holographic superfluid model. Our results indicate that the QME widely occurs in the holographic superfluid model under the probe limit.

Speaker: Shuta Ishigaki (Shanghai University)

12:45 PM → 2:30 PM Lunch

2:30 PM → 3:30 PM TBA

TBA

Speaker: Kazuaki Takasan (The University of Tokyo)

3:30 PM → 4:00 PM Coffee Break

4:00 PM → 4:30 PM Complex-CFT governed pseudocriticality in quantum spin chains

Weak first-order pseudocriticality with approximate scale invariance has been observed in a variety of settings, including the intriguing case of deconfined criticality in 2+1 dimensions. Recently, this has been interpreted as extremely slow flows ("walking behavior") for real-valued couplings in proximity to a bona fide critical point with complex-valued couplings, described by a complex conformal field theory (CFT). Here we study an SU(N) generalization of the the Heisenberg antiferromagnet, which is a familiar model for deconfined criticality in 2+1 dimensions. We show that in 1+1 dimensions the model is located near a complex CFT, whose proximity can be tuned as a function of N. We employ state-of-the-art quantum Monte Carlo simulations for continuous N along with an improved loop estimator for the Rényi entanglement entropy based on a nonequilibrium work protocol. These techniques allow us to track the central charge of this model in detail as a function of N, where we observe excellent agreement with CFT predictions. Notably, this includes the region N>2, where the CFT moves into the complex plane and pseudocritical drifts enable us to recover the real part of the complex central charge with remarkable accuracy. Since the present model with N=3 is also equivalent to the spin-1 biquadratic model, our work sheds new light on the dimerized phase of the spin-1 chain, demonstrating that it is pseudocritical and proximate to a complex CFT.

Speaker: Sumiran Pujari (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay)

4:30 PM → 5:00 PM Resonance-Suppression Principle for Prethermalization beyond Periodic Driving (https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.21540)

Non-equilibrium dynamics of strongly and rapidly driven quantum many-body systems is poorly understood beyond periodic driving, where heating is exponentially slow in the drive frequency (Floquet Prethermalization). In contrast, non-periodic drives were found to exhibit widely different heating scalings with no unifying principle. This work identifies a resonance-suppression principle governing slow heating up to a prethermal lifetime τ∗: When the drive's spectral arithmetic structure restricts multiphoton resonances, τ∗ is controlled by low-frequency spectral suppression. The principle distinguishes (i) Single-photon suppression, quantified by a low-frequency suppression law f(Ω) for the drive's Fourier Transform weight near Ω=0, from (ii) Multi-photon suppression, where nested commutators remain controlled if exceptional arithmetic structure satisfies a subadditive property. Remarkably, if multi-photon suppression holds, τ∗ scaling with drive speed λ is governed by f(Ω). This law of τ∗ is found through a small-divisor mechanism in this work's iterative rotating frame scheme. Multi-photon suppression breakdown separates λ-scaling of τ∗ in linear response and non-perturbative theory, shown by a case study of Quasi-Floquet driving. The principle is applied to (i) Resolve inconsistencies in literature on non-periodic driving, and (ii) Provide design principles for engineering prethermal phases of matter in programmable quantum simulators, exemplified by new non-periodic `Factorial' drives with tunable τ∗.

Speaker: Jian Xian Sim (Center for Quantum Technologies Singapore)

Fri, June 5

9:30 AM → 10:30 AM TBA

TBA

Speaker: Masaru Hongo (Niigata Universiity)

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee Break

11:00 AM → 11:30 AM Hydrodynamic attractor in ultracold atoms

The hydrodynamic attractor is a concept that describes universal equilibration behavior in which systems lose microscopic details before hydrodynamics becomes applicable. We propose a setup to observe hydrodynamic attractors in ultracold atomic gases, taking advantage of the fact that driving the two-body s-wave scattering length causes phenomena equivalent to isotropic fluid expansions. We specifically consider two-component fermions with contact interactions in three dimensions and discuss their dynamics under a power-law drive of the scattering length in a uniform system. By explicit computation, we derive a hydrodynamic relaxation model. We analytically solve their dynamics and find the hydrodynamic attractor solution. Our proposed method using the scattering length drive is applicable to a wide range of ultracold atomic systems, and our results establish these as a new platform for exploring hydrodynamic attractors.

Speaker: Keisuke Fujii (Institute of Science Tokyo)

11:30 AM → 11:45 AM Short Break (15min.)

11:45 AM → 12:45 PM TBA

TBA

Speaker: Bruno Bertini (University of Birmingham)

12:45 PM → 2:30 PM Lunch

2:30 PM → 3:00 PM Mixed-State Entanglement in a Minimal Model of Quantum Chaos

We study the dynamics of mixed-state entanglement in a minimal model of quantum chaos, the kicked field Ising model, using a class of solvable initial states. By combining the replica trick with the space-time duality of the model, we show that the exact spectrum of the partially transposed reduced density matrix is flat at early times. This leads to exact relations between entanglement negativity, odd entropy and R´enyi mutual information. Extensive numerical simulations also demonstrate that this relation remains quantitatively valid for generic initial states and at late times, motivating the conjecture that it holds in general. Our results indicate that this relation extends beyond the present minimal model to more general Ising-type quantum spin chains.

Speaker: Tanay Pathak (Kyoto University)

3:00 PM → 3:30 PM An Observer-Based Approach to Thermalization

Thermalization and gravity have one thing in common: they do not align well with quantum mechanics. One possible explanation for this is that these phenomena are macroscopic rather than microscopic. So, what does it mean to be 'macro'? Furthermore, these phenomena may be characterized by the fact that they are described as relative to each observer. In order to address these questions, we will discuss a mathematical framework based on the concept of observer-dependent entropy. In particular, we will discuss how the increase in entropy occurs.

Speaker: Teruaki Nagasawa (Kanazawa University)

3:30 PM → 3:45 PM Short Break (15min)

3:45 PM → 4:15 PM Tunable many-body burst in isolated quantum systems

While thermalization in isolated quantum many-body systems can be explained by the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, its process can be nonmonotonic depending on an initial state. In this talk, we propose a numerical method to construct a low-entangled initial state that creates a “burst”——a transient deviation of an expectation value of an observable from its thermal equilibrium value——at a designated time. Our method utilizes the density matrix renormalization group algorithm to find such a state within the matrix product state manifold. We apply this method to demonstrate that a burst of magnetization can be realized for a nonintegrable mixed-field Ising chain on a timescale comparable to the onset of quantum scrambling. Contrary to the typical spreading of information in this regime, the created burst is accompanied by a slow or even negative entanglement growth. Analytically, we employ a local random quantum circuit to show that a burst becomes probabilistically rare after a long time. Our results suggest that a nonequilibrium state is maintained for an appropriately chosen initial state until scrambling becomes dominant. Due to the low-entangled nature of the initial state, our predictions can be tested with programmable quantum simulators. Ref: S. Yamada, A. Hokkyo, and M. Ueda, arXiv:2602.09665 [quant-ph] (2026).

Speaker: Shozo Yamada (The University of Tokyo)

4:15 PM → 4:30 PM Closing

Convener: Taishi Kawamoto (Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (Kyoto University from next Aprile))