Validity of the GGE for quantum quenches from interacting to noninteracting models

Abstract: In the majority of the analytical verifications of the conjecture that the Generalised Gibbs Ensemble describes the large time asymptotics of local observables in quantum quench problems, both the post-quench and the pre-quench Hamiltonians are essentially noninteracting. We test this conjecture studying the field correlations in the more general case of an arbitrary pre-quench Hamiltonian, while keeping the post-quench one noninteracting. We first show that in the previously studied special case of a noninteracting pre-quench Hamiltonian, the validity of the conjecture is a consequence of Wick's theorem. We then show that it is also valid in the general case of an arbitrary interacting pre-quench Hamiltonian, but this time as a consequence of the cluster decomposition property of the initial state, which is a fundamental principle for generic physical states. For arbitrary initial states that do not satisfy the cluster decomposition property, the above conjecture is not generally true. As a byproduct of our investigation we obtain an analytical derivation of earlier numerical results for the large time evolution of correlations after a quantum quench of the interaction in the Lieb-Liniger model from a nonzero value to zero.