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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 2: Focus Session: New Routes to Localization and Quantum Non-Ergodicity I (joint session TT/DY)

DY 2.1: Topical Talk

Montag, 9. März 2026, 09:30–10:00, HSZ/0003

Eigenstate thermalization in thermal first-order phase transitions — •Maksym Serbyn — IST Austria, Am Campus 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg

In my talk I will discuss the fate of eigenstates in quantum systems in vicinity of thermal first order phase transition. The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) posits how isolated quantum many-body systems thermalize, assuming that individual eigenstates at the same energy density have identical expectation values of local observables in the limit of large systems. In my talk I will show that ETH requires generalization in the presence of thermal first-order phase transitions. I will argue that for energies in the vicinity of the thermal phase transition, eigenstate expectation values do not need to converge to the same thermal value. The system has a regime with coexistence of two classes of eigenstates corresponding to the two branches with distinct expectation values at the same energy density, and another regime with Schrodinger-cat-like eigenstates that are inter-branch superpositions; these two regimes are separated by an eigenstate phase transition. I will also discuss potential extensions of these results to more physical models, and outline how the special structure of eigenstates near first order phase transition can be probed via quench dynamics.