Inhomogeneous quantum quenches

We study the problem of a quantum quench in which the initial state is the ground state of an inhomogeneous Hamiltonian, in two different models, conformal field theory and ordinary free field theory, which are known to exhibit thermalization of finite regions in the homogeneous case. We derive general expressions for the evolution of the energy flow and correlation functions, as well as the entanglement entropy in the conformal case. Comparison of the results from the two approaches in the regime of their common validity shows agreement up to a point further discussed. Unlike for the thermal analogue, the evolution in our problem is non-diffusive and can be physically interpreted using an intuitive picture of quasiparticles emitted from the initial time hypersurface and propagating semiclassically.