Observation of universal hierarchical relaxation in a quantum simulator

Abstract

Autocorrelation functions play a key role in the theoretical characterization of the dynamical properties of interacting many-body quantum systems. Recently, bringing together the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis and hydrodynamics, it was theoretically predicted that the relaxation of autocorrelators can be described by the \textit{relaxation-overlap inequality}, which, when saturated, predicts a hierarchy of relaxation exponents for a set of operators that are easily identified and constructed. Here, we employ a trapped-ion quantum simulator to experimentally demonstrate it in the diffusive regime; to do so, we have extended the theory of the overlap-relaxation inequality to systems with multiple conservation laws. Our study thus opens the path to a thorough characterization of the relaxation to equilibrium and appearance of hydrodynamic behavior in quantum matter.