Comment on "Relaxation theory for perturbed many-body quantum systems versus numerics and experiment"

In a recent Letter [Dabelow and Reimann, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 120602 (2020)], a perturbative relaxation theory is applied to the Bose-Hubbard model and compared to data from a quantum simulator experiment [Trotzky et al. Nature Phys 8, 325 (2012)]. In this Comment, I argue that the discrepancy found is due to the quasi-local observable measured in the experiment being affected by a harmonic trapping potential that is unaccounted for in the analytic calculation. I support my claim with quasi-exact numerics computed using a parallel time-evolving block decimation algorithm (TEBD), and show that the relaxation theory gives accurate results in the correct limit when compared to an appropriate local observable. Finally, I note that my numerics disagree with the t-DMRG calculations of Trotzky et al. but give better qualitative agreement with their experimental results.

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