Dynamics of the Bose-Hubbard Chain for Weak Interactions

Abstract: We study the Boltzmann transport equation for the Bose-Hubbard chain in the kinetic regime. The time-dependent Wigner function is matrix-valued with odd dimension due to integer spin. For nearest neighbor hopping only, there are infinitely many additional conservation laws and nonthermal stationary states. Adding longer range hopping amplitudes entails exclusively thermal equilibrium states. We provide a derivation of the Boltzmann equation based on the Hubbard hamiltonian, including general interactions beyond on-site, and illustrate the results by numerical simulations. In particular, convergence to thermal equilibrium states with negative temperature is investigated.