Time dependence of occupation numbers and thermalization time in closed chaotic many-body systems

Abstract

We study the time evolution of occupation numbers for interacting Fermi-particles in the situation when exact compound states are "chaotic". This situation is generic for highly excited many-particles states in heavy nuclei, complex atoms, quantum dots, spin systems and quantum computer models. Numerical data show perfect agreement with a simple theory for the onset of thermalization in close systems of interacting particles.

Comments: RevTex, 4 pages including 2 PS-figures