Many elastic, thermal, electronic, and magnetic properties of classical glassy material systems are consequences of these materials’ being out of equilibrium. Such properties can be tailored according to preparation schemes — for example, by controlling cooling rates. In contrast, because of the difficulties in studying real-time dynamics of strongly interacting quantum systems coupled to a thermal bath, very little is currently known about properties of quantum matter that can be manipulated by keeping systems out of equilibrium. In this talk I will show that some quantum many-body systems with no quenched disorder and with solely local interactions can have slow dynamical relaxation rates akin to those of strong structural glasses. The examples are drawn from three dimensional generalizations of quantum systems coupled to a thermal bath, very little is currently known about properties of quantum matter that can be manipulated by keeping systems out of equilibrium. In this talk I will show that some quantum many-body systems with no quenched disorder and with solely local interactions can have slow dynamical relaxation rates akin to those of strong structural glasses. The examples are drawn from three dimensional generalizations of quantum Hamiltonians proposed for topological quantum computing. These systems have fractionalized excitations and topologically ordered ground states, which however are not reached when the temperature is reduced to absolute zero.

Boston University